OSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

By  R.  L.  POWER 


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Boston's 
Special  Libraries 


BY 

RALPH   L.   POWER 

BOSTON  UNIVERSITY 

The  College  of   Business  Administration 

Librarian  of  the  College  and  Curator  of  the  Museum 
Editor  of  Special  Libraries  and  Alpha  Kappa  Psi  Diary 


PRENTICE-HALL,  INC. 

NEW  YORK  CITY 


Copyright,  1917,  by  PRENTICE-HALL,  INC. 


All  rights  reserved 


To 
DEAN   EVERETT    W.  LORD 

Whose  inspiration  will 

be  the  making  of 

many  books 


22051S1 


FOREWORD 

A  librarian  plying  his  trade  in  the  heart  of  Boston 
has  opportunities  to  dip  into  many  lines  of  research 
closed  to  workers  in  a  city  where  literary  tradition 
has  less  part  in  the  directing  of  public  life. 

During  the  collegiate  year  of  1916-17  the  ad- 
visability occurred  to  me  of  visiting  and  tabulating 
the  various  special  libraries  in  and  about  Boston, 
partly  to  satisfy  my  professional  curiosity,  partly  to 
compile  a  guide  book  for  the  students  of  the  college, 
who,  I  felt,  might  conveniently  use  greater  special- 
ized resources  than  the  library  under  my  own 
charge  could  at  that  time  offer. 

The  result  of  several  months  of  study  and  note- 
taking  was  a  set  of  twenty-two  articles  printed 
originally  in  the  Boston  University  News.  Later 
the  whole  series  was  summarized  and  published 
serially  in  the  Library  Journal.,  while  several  of  the 
articles  appeared  separately  in  various  trade  peri- 
odicals. 

Many  issues  of  the  News  were  quickly  exhausted 
and  the  continued  heavy  demand  for  complete  files 
which  could  not  be  supplied  demonstrated  the  ad- 
visability of  reproducing  the  matter  in  more  avail- 
able and  permanent  form. 

In  order  to  form  a  more  complete  guide  the 
number  of  libraries  was  increased  to  cover  the  en- 


tire  field  in  the  city  of  Boston.  Practically  all  spe- 
cial and  business  libraries  listed  in  the  Library 
Annual  and  other  sources  were  included. 

In  general  the  articles  are  descriptive  only  of 
business  and  of  the  more  unusual  types  of  special- 
ized collections,  but  one  law,  one  medical  and  one 
theological  library  have  been  included  for  purposes 
of  reference.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  include 
institutional,  public  or  private  libraries  of  general 
nature. 

Two-thirds  of  the  libraries  listed  here  have  been 
visited  by  me  personally.  When  the  pressure  of 
additional  duties  became  too  great,  members  of  the 
library  staff  visited  the  remainder.  It  is  from  the 
notes  taken  from  these  personal  visits  that  the  data 
has  been  written.  Practically  without  exception 
the  manuscript  describing  each  library  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  its  librarian  for  correction. 

Special  thanks  are  due  Professor  Harry  B. 
Center,  editor  of  the  Boston  University  News,  for 
permission  to  reprint  the  material  which  originally 
appeared  in  that  publication,  and  to  Alfred  E. 
Longueil,  at  that  time  editor  of  the  Boston  Uni- 
versity Beacon,  for  his  valued  services  in  connection 
with  copy  editing. 

RALPH  L.  POWER. 
Boston  University,  September,  1917. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 

NAME  PAGE 

Foreword 5 

1.  Aberthaw  Construction  Company  Library 11 

2.  Allen  and  Daggett  Library 11 

3.  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  Library. ...   12 

4.  American  Agricultural  Chemical  Company  Library...   13 

5.  Appalachian  Mountain  Club  Library 15 

6.  Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce  Library 17 

7.  Boston  Consolidated  Gas  Company  Library 18 

8.  Boston  Department  of  Public  Works  Library 19 

9.  Boston  Department  of  Statistics  Library 20 

10.  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company  Library 21 

11.  Boston  Globe  Library 24 

12.  Boston   Journal   Library 25 

13.  Boston  Medical  Library 26 

14.  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  Library 28 

15.  Boston  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  Library 30 

16.  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History  Library 34 

17.  Boston  Transcript  Library 35 

18.  Boston    University,    College   of    Business   Administra- 

tion Library 38 

19.  Christian  Science  Monitor  Library 41 

20.  Civic  Service  House  Library 42 

21.  Congregational  Library   43 

22.  Cram  and  Ferguson  Library 44 

23.  A.  H.  Davenport  &  Company  Library 44 

24.  Edison     Electric     Illuminating    Company    of     Boston 

Library    45 

25.  Elizabeth  Peabody  House  Library 46 

26.  Filene's,  William,  Sons  Company  Library 47 

27.  Franklin  Union  Library 47 

28.  French,  Hollis  and  Hubbard,  Allen  Library 48 

29.  Insurance  Library  Association  of  Boston 49 

30.  Jackson,  D.  C,  and  William  B.  Library 51 

31.  Kidder,  Peabody  and  Company  Library 54 

32.  Lamson  Company  Library 54 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS—  Continued 

NAME  PAGE 

33.  Lee,  Higginson  and  Company  Library 55 

34.  Little,  Arthur  D.,  Inc.,  Library 57 

35.  Lockwood,  Greene  and  Company  Library 60 

36.  Lowney,  Walter  H.  and  Company  Library ". . .  63 

37.  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture  Library 64 

38.  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  Library 64 

39.  Massachusetts  Forestry  Association  Library 66 

40.  Massachusetts   Forestry  Department  Library 67 

41.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Library 68 

42.  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society  Library 70 

43.  Massachusette  Public  Service  Commission  Library...  71 

44.  Mellin's  Food  Company  Library 75 

45.  Merchants  National  Bank  Library 76 

46.  Metcalf  and  Eddy  Library 79 

47.  National  Industrial  Conference  Board  Library 79 

48.  New  England  Conservatory  of  Music  Library 83 

49.  N.  E.  Hardware  Dealers  Association  Library 84 

50.  New  England  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Library 85 

51.  Old  Colony  Trust  Company  Library 88 

52.  Pilgrim  Publicity  Association  Library 92 

53.  Rollins,  E.  H.,  and  Sons  Library 93 

54.  Sampson  and  Murdock  Company  Library 93 

55.  Scovell,  Wellington  and  Company  Library 97 

56.  Social  Law  Library 97 

57.  Social    Service   Library 100 

58.  Stone  and  Webster  Library 102 

59.  Charles  H.  Tenney  and  Company  Library 103 

60.  Town  Room  Library 106 

61.  United  Drug  Company  Library 108 

62.  Vocation  Bureau  Library 109 

63.  Wells    Memorial    Library 112 

64.  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  Library..  113 

65.  Youth's   Companion  Library 116 

66.  Harvard  Musical  Association  Library 118 

Bibliography  of  library  economy 126 

Index  .   130 


Boston's  Special  Libraries 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  L^RABOES  n 

1.     Aberthaw  Construction  Company 
Library 

The  Aberthaw  Construction  Company  at  27 
School  Street,  established  library  facilities  15  years 
ago  with  a  small  working  collection  devoted  mostly 
to  concrete  and  constructional  engineering. 

This  concern  makes  a  specialty  of  reinforced  con- 
crete work  in  the  construction  of  concrete  dams, 
factory  buildings,  etc.  The  work  generally  consists 
of  excavation,  building,  and  the  installation  of  fit- 
tings, including  engineering  connected  therewith. 

The  book  collections  number  slightly  over  three 
hundred,  and  the  pamphlets,  which  are  kept  in 
pamphlet  cases,  number  5,000,  including  blue  prints 
and  maps.  The  magazine  list  includes  all  the  recog- 
nized periodicals  on  industrial  engineering  and  con- 
struction. 

The  bound  books  include  such  association  publi- 
cation as  the  National  Association  of  Cement 
Users,  American  Society  for  Testing  Materials, 
and  trade  directories  and  year  books.  Other  ma- 
terial deals  intensively  with  reinforced  concrete, 
costs,  efficiency,  and  employment. 

This  library  is  maintained  for  the  executive  force 
of  the  concern.  Mr.  Henry  B.  Alvord  is  the  Libra- 
rian. 

2.     Allen  and  Daggett  Library 

Allen  and  Daggett — patent  attorneys — in  the  Old 
South  Building  maintain  a  library  of  1,000  volumes 
devoted  almost  wholly  to  federal  law. 

The  collection  includes  supreme  court  decisions, 


12    ;\  f  [  :  j  2?6<5T-0N'S    SPECIAL   LIBRARIES 

legal  texts,  reference  works,  and  some  material  on 
electrical  and  mechanical  engineering.  The  Official 
Gazette  since  1790  is  bound  by  months  and  fully 
indexed. 

The  library  is  maintained  by  the  company  for  the 
use  of  its  employees  and  the  clients  of  the  firm. 
The  concern  was  established  about  40  years  ago. 

Most  of  the  material  in  the  library  is  indexed  by 
years.  Mr.  D.  A.  Griffin  is  in  charge. 

3.    American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
Library 

The  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
housed  since  1912  in  the  new  building  at  28  New- 
bury  Street,  put  up  in  memory  of  Alexander  Agas- 
siz,  contains  a  large  library  devoted  to  mathemat- 
ical and  natural  sciences.  As  in  the  majority  of 
such  cases,  this  library  began  with  the  very  estab- 
lishment of  the  Academy — in  1780.  Since  then  it 
has  continually  received  additions  by  exchange,  by 
gift,  and  through  the  publications  of  Fellows  of 
the  Academy,  who  now  number  five  hundred. 

There  are  at  present  35,000  volumes  and  12,000 
pamphlets  in  the  collection.  The  bound  books  are 
kept  in  the  stacks,  of  which  there  are  six  floors,  one 
of  which  is  used  for  storage  space.  The  adminis- 
trative office  of  the  library  houses  the  pamphlet  ma- 
terial in  file  cases  to  the  number  of  nearly  200.  The 
card  catalogue  is  also  in  this  room.  It  is  a  guide 
to  the  entire  collection  and  lists  the  material  under 
authors  and  subjects.  The  catalogue  contains  ap- 
proximately 65,000  cards. 

Magazines  to  the  number  of  about  fifty,  devoted 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  13 

to  the  field  in  which  the  library  specializes,  are  filed. 
Many  are  of  foreign  countries. 

The  reading  room,  which  is  furnished  with  com- 
fortable arm  chairs  and  desks,  contains  many  refer- 
ence books.  The  bulk  of  the  material  is  kept,  how- 
ever, in  the  stack  rooms.  Memoirs  and  proceedings 
of  scientific  societies  all  over  the  world  form  a  large 
part  of  the  book  collection.  The  library  has  un- 
usual and  fairly  complete  files  of  foreign  scientific 
society  publications.  Generally  speaking,  the  mate- 
rial along  this  line  does  not  duplicate  to  any  great 
extent  the  collection  of  libraries  of  similar  nature 
in  this  part  of  the  country. 

The  building  of  the  Academy  contains,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  library,  committee  rooms,  a  large  lecture 
hall,  and  alcoves  for  folios  of  scientific  works. 

The  Library  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences  is  solely  for  the  Fellows  and  Members 
of  the  Academy  and  persons  introduced  by  them, 
though  any  one  wishing  to  consult  a  book  may  do 
so  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Librarian. 

Dr.  Arthur  G.  Webster  of  Clark  University  is 
Librarian,  but  the  Assistant  Librarian,  Mrs.  Austin 
Holden,  is  in  direct  charge  of  the  administrative 
work. 

4.     American  Agricultural  Chemical  Co. 
Library 

The  Agricultural  Service  Bureau  of  The  Ameri- 
can Agricultural  Chemical  Company,  92  State 
Street,  Boston,  has  a  library  consisting  chiefly  of 
books  and  pamphlets  on  the  subjects  of  soils,  fer- 
tilizers and  farm  crops. 


14  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

It  contains  the  Manager's  large,  personal  collec- 
tion of  bulletins  and  reports  from  most  of  the  Agri- 
cultural Experiment  Stations  of  the  United  States 
and  from  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture from  the  period  from  1890  to  1912  and  the 
Bureau's  collection  covering  the  period  from  1912 
to  date.  This  collection  represents  many  thousands 
of  pamphlets  and  bound  volumes. 

In  addition,  the  following  periodicals  are  on  file  : 

The  Journal  of  Agricultural  Science,  London,  Vol. 
I  (1905),  to  date. 

Journal  of  Agricultural  Research,  Washington, 
D.  C,  Vol.  I  (1913),  to  date. 

Monthly  Bulletin  of  Agricultural  and  Commercial 
Statistics,  International  Institute  of  Agricul- 
ture, Rome,  May,  1914,  to  date. 

Monthly  Bulletin  of  Agricultural  Intelligence  and 
Plant  Diseases,  Int.  Inst.  of  Agriculture, 
Rome,  February,  1915,  to  date. 

Monthly  Bulletin  of  Economic  and  Social  Intelli~ 
gence,  Int.  Inst.  of  Agriculture,  Rome,  May, 
1914,  to  date. 

Experiment  Station  Record,  Washington,  D.  C., 
Vol.  I  (1889),  to  date. 

Soil  Science,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  Vol.  I  (1916), 
to  date. 

Annales  de  la  Science  Agronomique,  Paris,  1913, 
1914,  1915. 

Centralblatt  fur  Bakteriologie,  Berlin,  1906  through 


Die  Landwirtschaftlichen  Versuchs-Stationen,  Ber- 
lin, 1859  through  1915  (incomplete). 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  15 

Landwirtschaftliche  Jahrbilcher,  Berlin,  1912-1915 

(incomplete). 
Zentralblatt  fiir  Agrikulturchemie  (Biedermann's), 

Leipzig,  1913,  1914,  1915   (incomplete). 
Agricultural  News,  Barbados,  July,  1914,  to  date. 
Agricultural  Index,  White  Plains,   N.   Y.,  Vol.   I 

(1916),  to  date. 

The  library  also  contains  several  hundred  of  the 
most  recent  texts  and  reference  books  relating  to 
agricultural  chemistry,  botany,  bacteriology,  soils, 
fertilizers,  crop  production,  insect  pests,  plant  dis- 
eases and  other  agricultural  subjects. 

Since  this  collection  is  used  as  a  reference  library 
by  the  Bureau,  it  is  usually  available  for  consulta- 
tion only  in  the  office  of  the  Bureau.  The  manager 
of  the  Bureau  and  his  assistants  are  always  glad  to 
be  of  assistance  to  those  seeking  agricultural  in- 
formation. 

Dr.  H.  J.  Wheeler,  an  international  authority 
on  agricultural  chemistry,  is  the  manager  of  the 
Bureau. 

5.     Appalachian  Mountain  Club  Library 

The  Appalachian  Mountain  Club,  at  100  Frank- 
lin Street,  has  an  interesting  library  devoted  prin- 
cipally to  mountaineering,  exploration,  discovery, 
botany,  geology  and  other  subjects  allied.  It  con- 
sists of  about  2,500  bound  books  and  1,500  pam- 
phlets, with  a  card  catalogue  for  the  book  collection. 
Maps  which  form  an  important  part  of  such  a  li- 
brary, and  are  invaluable  for  the  members,  are 
shelved  to  the  number  of  2,000  or  over. 

The  annual  increase  is  through  exchange  with 


1 6  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

corresponding  societies,   donations  and  appropria- 
tions. 

Some  geographic  publications  and  periodicals  are 
in  the  library,  but  the  main  collection  relates  to  the 
literature  of  mountains  and  mountaineering,  and 
works  of  general  geographic  interest.  There  are 
also  some  small  collections  on  subjects  pertaining  to 
the  several  departments  of  the  Club  work,  such  as 
snow  shoeing,  hut  building,  etc. 

The  Appalachian  Mountain  Club  publishes  valua- 
ble material  relating  to  the  White  Mountains  and 
mountaineering.  The  best  known  of  these  is  its 
"Guide  to  Paths  in  the  White  Mountains  and  Adja- 
cent Regions,"  without  which  the  many  hikers  in 
the  New  Hampshire  Mountains  would  not  enjoy 
their  trips  half  so  much  as  they  do. 

The  Sella  Collection  is  an  interesting  part  of  the 
collection.  Besides  the  original  collection  there  have 
been  many  various  donations,  mainly  in  1910. 
There  are  now  several  hundred  photographs  in  the 
collection  showing  Alpine  and  Caucasian  mountain 
scenery  taken  by  Vittorio  Sella  of  Biella,  Italy. 
Loans  of  photographs  are  made  without  charge  to 
societies  desiring  to  exhibit  them  gratuitously  to 
the  public. 

The  library  occupies  two  rooms,  one  of  which  is 
also  used  as  a  meeting  room  for  the  Council  and 
Committees.  The  Appalachian  Mountain  Club  was 
organized  in  1876,  and  material  for  the  library  of 
the  club  was  collected  from  the  first. 

Mr.  Perceval  Sayward  is  secretary  of  the  Ap- 
palachian Club,  and  Miss  Alice  G.  Higgins  the 
librarian. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  17 

6.     Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce  Library 

The  Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce  contains  a  li- 
brary and  reading  room  adjoining  the  Boston  Stock 
Exchange  on  the  third  floor  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  Building. 

The  collection  is  somewhat  general  in  the  main 
room,  but  specific  works  relating  to  foreign  trade, 
port  development,  trade  statistics,  and  maritime  af- 
fairs are  kept  in  the  several  rooms  in  which  special 
work  is  going  on  along  those  different  lines. 

A  fairly  complete  collection  of  reports  and  pub- 
lications of  boards  of  trade,  chambers  of  commerce, 
improvement  societies  and  other  commercial  asso- 
ciations for  the  past  few  years  is  on  hand.  It  in- 
cludes the  larger  and  better  known  organizations  in 
the  United  States,  with  the  addition  of  some  Euro- 
pean associations  such  as  those  of  London,  Hong- 
kong and  others.  A  few  reports  of  national  in- 
dustrial associations  are  received,  such  as  the 
National  Association  of  Cotton  Manufacturers, 
National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers,  Na- 
tional Association  of  Manufacturers,  etc. 

The  bound  book  collection  numbers  about  2,000. 
The  books  are  not  catalogued.  Fairly  complete  re- 
ports of  useful  government  publications  are  on  file. 
These  include  the  many  census  documents,  reports 
on  the  commercial  relations  of  the  United  States 
and  several  others.  A  fairly  strong  collection  of 
general  reference  books  is  also  part  of  the  equip- 
ment. Many  newspapers  are  regularly  placed  on 
the  racks  and  a  large  number  of  magazines  relating 
to  current  information  and  general  topics  are  on  the 
reading  tables.  In  one  corner  a  very  representative 
file  of  city  directories  is  shelved. 


1 8  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  Library  serves  the 
double  purpose  of  a  reading  room  and  general  li- 
brary for  its  members  and  a  highly  utilitarian  de- 
partment of  information  for  the  staff  of  secretaries 
and  other  administrative  officers.  For  these,  small 
working  collections  are  in  many  of  the  offices  and 
committee  rooms. 

L.  B.  Hayes,  an  assistant  secretary,  whose  prin- 
cipal duty  is  in  investigations,  also  acts  as  librarian. 

7.     Boston  Consolidated  Gas  Company 
Library 

The  library  of  the  Boston  Consolidated  Gas  Com- 
pany is  located  in  the  commercial  department  at  the 
company's  building  on  West  Street.  In  addition  to 
the  regular  library,  most  of  the  company's  officials 
have  books  relating  to  their  specific  work  in  their 
own  offices,  and,  since  the  divisions  are  different, 
duplication  is  minimized. 

Although  some  material  for  the  collection  was 
bought  prior  to  1897,  ^  was  not  until  about  that 
time  that  regular  attention  was  given  to  the  book 
collection.  The  library  now  contains  approximately 
1,200  volumes  and  1,000  pamphlets. 

The  collection  in  this  library  is  mostly  of  a  fairly 
technical  nature.  In  general  the  works  in  this  gas 
library  may  be  found  in  other  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial libraries.  Since  the  Gas  and  Coke  Com- 
pany and  the.  Construction  Company  are  both  wide- 
ly separated  from  the  main  executive  department, 
the  resources  must  also  necessarily  be  divided. 

The  material  is  shelved  according  to  divisions. 
These,  according  to  the  library  catalogue  of  1909, 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  19 

are  somewhat  as  follows :  Civil  engineering,  com- 
mercial department,  electrical  engineering,  finan- 
cial, gas  and  illuminating  engineering  divisions,  in- 
dustrial economy,  legislation,  marine  and  naval 
engineering,  mechanical  engineering,  mining  and 
metallurgy,  miscellaneous  division,  railway  engi- 
neering statistics  division,  street  and  electric  rail- 
ways, and  miscellaneous  books,  pamphlets  and 
articles. 

On  the  shelves  are  government  documents  of  use 
to  public  service  corporations,  technical  periodicals 
in  the  gas,  electric  and  allied  lines,  and  proceedings 
of  technical  societies.  The  file  of  the  American 
Gas  Institute  publication  begins  with  1875. 

The  catalogue  lists  most  material  in  the  library. 
It  is  arranged  alphabetically  by  subjects  and  sub- 
divisions. For  instance,  gas  a  main  head,  is  sub- 
divided under  burners,  cases,  efficiency,  engines,  fix- 
tures, operation,  rates  and  theory. 

The  Gas  Company  library  is  not  at  present  com- 
plete. The  Librarian,  R.  C.  Ware,  was  called  to  the 
front  in  Europe  before  his  work  was  finished.  The 
work  is  now  being  done  by  a  filing  clerk.  It  comes 
under  the  direction  of  W.  W.  Cummings,  Manager 
of  the  Industrial  Fuel  Department  and  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Office. 

8.     Boston  Department  of  Public  Works 
Library 

On  February  i,  1911,  the  street,  water  and  engi- 
neering departments  of  the  City  of  Boston  were 
consolidated  under  one  head  as  the  Public  Works 
Department.  This  is  now  divided  into  the  follow- 


20  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

ing  divisions :  bridge  and  ferry,  highway,  and  sewer 
and  water. 

The  library  of  the  department  is  located  in  Room 
806  in  the  City  Hall  Annex.  It  contains  about  3,000 
books,  besides  the  thousands  of  papers  and  reports 
in  the  department  archives. 

The  book  material,  assembled  for  the  use  of  the 
employees,  relates  to  engineering,  water,  streets, 
sewers,  bridges,  and  all  kinds  of  public  works. 
Engineering  magazines,  records,  water  work  asso- 
ciation publications  and  municipal  public  works  re- 
ports are  kept. 

Inspectors'  reports  are  catalogued  and  filed.  They 
include  bids,  mail  lists  and  contracts.  The  depart- 
ment archives  take  up  considerable  space  and  form 
an  historical  outline  of  the  growth  of  the  depart- 
ment as  well  as  a  reference  collection  for  any  phase 
of  its  work.  The  books  and  other  material  are 
catalogued  by  authors  and  subjects. 

The  Public  Works  Library  is  open  to  the  public, 
although  it  is  primarily  for  the  city  employees  in 
the  Public  Works  Department.  Material  is  not  al- 
lowed out  of  the  offices.  Mr.  Charles  S.  Parsons, 
clerk,  acts  as  librarian,  and  is  in  charge  of  the  work 
of  collecting  archives  and  other  material. 

9.     Boston  Department  of  Statistics 
Library 

The  Statistics  Department  on  the  seventh  floor 
of  the  City  Hall,  maintains  a  library  of  10,000  books 
and  4,000  pamphlets  which  is  open  to  the  public.  It 
is  used  chiefly  by  city  officials,  and  contains  mate- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  21 

rial  on  statistics  and  official  United  States  and  for- 
eign municipal  documents. 

The  department  collects,  compiles  and  publishes 
such  statistics  relating  to  the  City  of  Boston  and 
such  statistics  of  other  cities,  for  purposes  of  com- 
parison, as  it  may  deem  of  public  importance.  It  also 
furnishes  statistical  information  to  the  city  depart- 
ments and  public  on  request.  The  Boston  Municipal 
Register  is  compiled  annually  by  the  department. 
The  department  published  the  Monthly  Bulletin,  15 
volumes,  and  Special  Publications,  i  to  20,  in  the 
period  1898  to  1913.  The  publication  of  these  vol- 
umes has  been  suspended  since  1913  through  lack 
of  funds. 

The  library  has  been  in  existence  since  1894.  It 
has  excellent  files  of  documents  issued  by  Boston 
and  some  from  the  Commonwealth.  Other  state 
and  national  reports  besides  municipal  publications 
from  the  principle  cities  of  the  world  form  the  bulk 
of  the  collection. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Statistics  Department,  Dr. 
Edward  M.  Hartwell,  who  has  occupied  that  posi- 
tion since  its  establishment  in  1897,  is  in  charge  of 
the  library  facilities. 

10.     Boston  Elevated  Railway  Library 

The  Library  of  the  Boston  Elevated,  shelved  at 
the  general  offices  of  the  company,  maintains  a 
unique  position  in  the  special  library  realm.  So  far 
as  it  is  possible  to  ascertain,  no  other  street  railway 
company  in  America  supports  such  a  library. 

The  Boston  Elevated's  collection  comprises 
bound  volumes  to  the  number  of  about  one  thou- 


22  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

sand.  It  embraces  varied  branches  of  knowledge. 
There  are  a  few  works  on  general  business  and  its 
various  sub-divisions,  directories,  public  utilities  re- 
ports, city,  state  and  national  government  publica- 
tions regarding  finances,  census,  electrical  data,  etc., 
reports  and  literature  of  transportation  in  other 
cities  of  the  United  States,  including  street  railroad 
reports  of  the  larger  cities,  railroad  reports  of  the 
New  England  states,  and  much  statistical  matter. 
But  mainly  the  bound  book  collection  deals  with 
safety  investigations,  accidents,  and  literature  deal- 
ing directly  with  street  railroad  work. 

Every  library  of  the  specialized  type  depends  to 
a  greater  extent  upon  pamphlet  material  and  people 
than  upon  books.  The  Boston  Elevated  Library 
must  cover  a  multitude  of  different  phases  of  human 
endeavor  and  knowledge.  Approximately  five  or 
six  thousand  pamphlets,  leaflets  and  clippings  are 
included  in  the  collection.  And  they  are  so  arranged 
as  to  be  accessible  at  a  moment's  notice.  Larger 
pamphlets  are  filed  in  pamphlet  boxes  until  enough 
accumulate  to  warrant  binding.  They  are  then  fully 
catalogued  and  the  bound  volume  is  dog-eared  to 
facilitate  its  use.  Hence  the  wide  range  of  subject 
headings  in  the  vertical  file. 

Some  of  the  material  is  housed  in  regular  vertical 
files,  others  in  files  containing  expansive  envelopes. 
By  glancing  over  merely  a  few  of  the  envelopes  one 
might  gain  a  slight  idea  of  the  varied  subject  mate- 
rial. As  I  glanced  rapidly  over  one  collection  I 
noticed  immense  envelopes  with  the  following  la- 
bels :  car  types,  arbitration,  cleaning,  crossings, 
barns,  cables,  cost  of  stopping,  escalators,  express, 
equipment,  labor,  wrecks,  subway,  signs,  paints, 
stations,  buildings,  elevated,  insurance,  rails,  reports 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  23 

of  hearings.  It  is  only  when  one  fully  realizes  the 
magnitude  of  the  undertaking  to  accurately  classify 
and  catalogue  such  a  collection  that  he  can  appre- 
ciate the  work  of  the  librarian. 

Atlases  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  maps  of  va- 
rious localities  and  pictures  of  different  properties 
of  the  Elevated  have  an  important  place  in  the 
library. 

Magazines  of  use  to  the  immediate  constituency 
of  the  library  are  on  file.  These  include  literature 
of  electric  railroad  companies,  engineering  periodi- 
cals, magazines  containing  frequent  contributions 
to  the  literature  of  snow  removal,  grade  crossings, 
safety  first,  and  allied  subjects. 

Contrary  to  the  usual  custom  of  libraries,  the 
Elevated  has  its  catalogue  in  a  filing  table.  This 
enables  one  to  turn  from  one  subject  to  another 
with  great  rapidity.  In  libraries  of  greater  size  the 
use  of  the  filing  table  is  prohibitive  by  the  amount 
of  space  it  would  occupy.  All  material  is  indexed, 
books,  pamphlets,  etc. — making  an  index  of  forty  to 
fifty  thousand  cards,  with  a  yearly  addition  of  over 
ten  thousand.  Not  only  matter  actually  in  the  li- 
brary is  indexed,  but  also  such  material  as  is  kept 
in  the  private  offices  for  the  continuous  use  of  offi- 
cials. A  wide  use  is  made  of  indexes  of  every  sort, 
and  the  collection  of  these  bibliographical  aids  has 
been  thorough. 

The  company  maintains  what  it  calls  its  "reser- 
voir library"  at  Sullivan  Square.  Each  department 
of  the  company  has  the  privilege  of  vault  space  at 
the  Sullivan  Square  Terminal,  and  it  must,  owing 
to  the  necessity  of  utilizing  available  space  about  its 
own  offices,  store  magazines  and  reports  previous  to 


24  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

ten  years  in  this  reservoir  library.    Here  are  several 
hundred  volumes. 

Since  it  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  America, 
the  Boston  Elevated  Library  is  necessarily  the  larg- 
est. Its  efficiency  is  surprising.  Without  previous 
library  training  the  librarian  has  developed  an  ex- 
ceptional well-arranged  collection  by  merely  ar- 
ranging material  in  groups  and  designating  ar- 
bitrary numbers  for  each  group.  Louis  Armistead, 
the  librarian,  had  been  research  assistant  for  the 
Elevated,  and  when  the  library  was  established  a 
year  ago  was  appointed  librarian.  Material  and 
reports  of  many  years  back  were  collected  from  the 
various  offices,  new  material  added  and  the  library 
was  well  under  way. 

The  Boston  Elevated  Library  is  not  for  exhibi- 
tion purposes.  It  is  a  highly  utilitarian  establish- 
ment. Mr.  Armistead  is  always  glad  to  be  of  service 
to  the  student  who  has  occasion  to  make  use  of  the 
collection,  whether  for  reports,  theses  or  other  ma- 
terial regarding  management,  public  service  com- 
missions, safety  first  appliances  or  any  one  of  the 
numerous  topics. 

11.     Boston  Globe  Library 

In  1892  the  Boston  Globe  established  a  reference 
library  which  now  numbers  2,000  books,  300  pam- 
phlets, 250,000  envelopes  of  clippings,  and  6,000 
envelopes  of  photos. 

The  books  are  those  of  general  reference,  viz., 
dictionaries,  encyclopedias,  histories,  reports,  etc. 
The  collection  is  classified  and  catalogued. 

Three  rooms  are  used  for  the  filing  system — two 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  25 

being  used  for  biographical  clippings  and  the  other 
for  clippings  of  places  and  things.  The  envelopes 
are  filed  alphabetically  in  vertical  file  cases.  The 
system  is  very  much  the  same  as  that  described  at 
length  in  the  article  on  the  Transcript  Library.  This 
brings  not  only  material  on  current  events  instantly 
available  but  everything  collected  on  any  subject. 

Maps  and  charts  are  filed  also.  The  issues  of  the 
Globe  are  filed  and  bound.  Other  newspapers  are 
filed  for  a  month  only. 

Nothing  is  allowed  to  leave  the  building,  but 
members  of  the  staff  may  draw  material  for  use  in 
their  offices.  The  library  is  open  to  the  Globe  em- 
ployees. 

The  Globe  Library  is  one  of  the  largest  news- 
paper libraries  in  the  East,  comparing  with  those  of 
the  World  and  Herald,  both  in  New  York  City — 
wonderful  examples  of  scientific  search  for  world- 
wide information.  The  Globe  facilities  are  espe- 
cially strong  in  New  England  material.  Miss  Esther 
C.  Tomelius  is  the  Librarian. 

12.     Boston  Journal  Library* 

Another  newspaper  library  similar  to  others  in- 
cluded in  this  book  is  the  library  of  the  Boston 
Journal,  at  268  Washington  Street.  This  collection 
was  formed  several  years  ago,  and  the  establishment 
of  it  is  a  story  in  itself. 

There  are  thousands  of  clippings  and  photographs, 
with  about  500  books.  The  books  are  of  general 

*  The  Boston  Herald  took  over  the  Boston  Journal,  Octo- 
ber 6,  1917. 


26  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

reference  and  source  books  from  America  and 
European  countries  for  quick  information.  There 
is  no  card  catalogue. 

The  clippings,  filed  in  envelopes,  are  numbered  by 
envelopes  and  card  indexed.  When  the  photographs 
are  not  filed  with  the  clippings  they  are  kept  in 
folders  called  "shelf  photos"  with  the  contents  listed 
on  the  cover. 

Files  of  the  Journal  are  carefully  preserved. 
Other  Boston  papers  are  kept  for  one  month.  The 
out-of-town  papers  are  divided  into  sections  and 
sent  to  different  department  heads,  such  as  sporting 
editor,  advertising  manager,  etc. 

The  Journal  library  is  mainly  for  the  use  of  the 
staff.  Others  may  make  use  of  the  facilities  upon 
the  consent  of  the  city  editor  or  librarian.  Mr. 
Francis  Nevin  is  librarian. 

13.     Boston  Medical  Library 

The  Boston  Medical  Library  of  93,000  volumes, 
75,000  dissertations  and  theses,  and  60,000  pam- 
phlets, at  8  Fenway,  was  organized  in  1875.  The 
library  is  a  corporation  in  itself  and  is  the  only 
medical  library  in  the  United  States  that  is  inde- 
pendent of  any  society  or  institution.  Practically 
all  of  the  various  medical  societies  of  Boston  have 
deposited  their  medical  collections  with  the  library 
which  makes  it  a  center  for  medical  literature  in 
Greater  Boston. 

Important  collections  are  the  Martin  collection  of 
vaccination  and  inoculation,  a  complete  collection  of 
Holmesiana,  the  Spring  collection  on  medical  biog- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  27 

raphy  and  history,  the  medical  medal  collection  and 
numerous  paintings.  Among  the  latter  there  should 
be  mentioned  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  by  Billings; 
Henry  J.  Bigelow  by  Vinton;  The  First  Operation 
Under  Ether  at  the  Mass.  General  Hospital,  1846, 
by  Hinckley.  Recently  the  library  received  the 
splendid  collection  of  the  late  Dr.  B.  Joy  Jeffries, 
probably  the  best  library  in  America  relating  to 
color-blindness. 

The  following  libraries  have  deposited  their  med- 
ical books  with  the  Boston  Medical  Library:  1875, 
Boston  Society  for  Medical  Observation;  1876,  Bos- 
ton Dispensary;  1876,  Boston  Society  for  Medical 
Improvement;  1878,  Gynecological  Society  of  Bos- 
ton; 1880,  Roxbury  Athenaeum;  1883,  Harvard 
Medical  School;  1898,  1905,  Boston  Athenaeum; 
1902.  Harvard  University;  1903,  Cambridge  Public 
Library;  1906,  Tufts  College  Medical  School;  1906, 
Waltham  Public  Library;  1906,  1908,  Boston  Pub- 
lic Library. 

Six  hundred  and  fifty  periodicals  in  French,  Ger- 
man and  other  foreign  languages  were  received  reg- 
ularly until  the  War  in  1914.  Pamphlets  are  classi- 
fied as  books  and  later  bound.  The  library  has  its 
own  scheme  of  classification  and  the  books  are 
catalogued. 

The  works  in  general  relate  to  medicine,  science 
as  it  touches  medicine,  old  dissertations,  dental  ma- 
terial, pharmacy,  medical  biography,  reports  of  hos- 
pitals, boards  of  health  and  vital  statistics,  veter- 
inary medicine,  surgery,  comparative  anatomy, 
pathology,  physiology,  vivisection,  biology,  mor- 
phology, anthropology,  psychology,  chemistry, 
homeopathy,  eclecticism,  osteopathy,  Christian 


28  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

Science,  radiotherapy,  Roentgen  rays,  tropical  dis- 
eases, pediatrics,  ophthalmology  and  otology,  pub- 
lic hygiene,  sanitary  science,  military  and  naval 
medicine,  medical  jurisprudence,  toxicology,  hand- 
writing, nervous  and  mental  diseases. 

The  Boston  Medical  Library  is  maintained  by 
dues  and  certain  limited  endowments  and  is  for  the 
use  of  its  three  classes  of  members,  viz. :  Fellows, 
Associates  and  Life  Members.  The  policy  towards 
the  general  public  is  very  liberal,  however,  and  gen- 
erally anyone  may  use  the  facilities  by  signing  the 
visitor's  book.  Books  are  circulated  among  mem- 
bers only.  A  new  stack  addition  was  planned,  but 
on  account  of  unsettled  conditions  has  been  post- 
poned. 

Dr.  James  R.  Chadwick  was  the  first  Librarian 
from  1875  to  1905,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  John 
W.  Farlow,  the  present  librarian.  Mr.  James  F. 
Ballard  is  the  assistant  librarian. 

14.     Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts 
Library 

The  Library  of  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  was 
organized  in  1876,  when  the  Museum  was  started. 
It  now  numbers  about  26,000  books,  12,000  pam- 
phlets, and  42,000  photographs. 

In  the  conspicuous  position  now  assigned  it,  the 
library,  dignified,  in  virtue  of  the  generosity  of 
Mrs.  H.  N.  Slater,  by  the  title  of  "William  Morris 
Hunt  Memorial  Library,"  is  able  to  make,  both  to 
the  regular  student  and  the  casual  inquirer,  an  ap- 
peal impossible  in  its  obscure  location  at  the  old 
Museum.  The  reading-room  is  excellently  lighted 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  29 

with  three  long  windows,  and  the  upper  walls  are 
hung  with  tapestries.  The  bookcases  are  in  two 
sections,  the  lower  arranged  to  hold  all  the  library's 
folios  on  roller  shelves,  the  upper  to  hold  the  most 
consulted  smaller  books.  The  remaining  volumes, 
except  the  works  of  reference  in  the  librarian's 
office,  are  arranged  in  a  stack  which  is  reached  by 
an  electric  elevator.  When  the  additional  wings 
of  the  Museum  are  built,  three  of  the  rooms  now 
occupied  by  the  Collections  of  Western  Art  will  be 
transferred  to  the  library,  giving  it  ideal  stack 
and  working  space  on  the  same  floor  as  the  reading- 
room. 

The  material  consists  of  works  relating  to  the  fine 
and  decorative  arts  and  especially  relating  either 
directly  or  indirectly  to  the  permanent  collections 
of  the  Museum.  The  principal  subjects  covered 
are  Greek  and  Roman  Art,  Chinese  and  Japanese 
Art,  Egyptian  Art,  Indian  Art,  architecture,  paint- 
ing, sculpture,  design,  textiles,  prints,  numismatics, 
ceramics,  and  biography  of  individual  artists. 

The  library  is  constantly  used  by  the  students  of 
the  Museum  School  of  Art,  as  well  as  by  artists, 
designers,  teachers,  lecturers,  and  students  of 
Greater  Boston.  The  books  may  not  be  removed 
from  the  library,  but  teachers  are  permitted  to  bor- 
row photographs  for  the  purposes  of  instruction  on 
condition  they  be  returned  within  forty-eight  hours. 
The  library  is  open  during  Museum  hours  and  all 
visitors  to  the  Museum  are  welcome. 

The  Collection  of  Photographs  represents  the 
sculpture,  painting,  and  architecture  of  Europe,  the 
Nearer  Orient,  and  Japan.  Italian  painting  is  the 
largest  section,  and  the  reproductions  of  Italian 


30  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

sculpture  include  Bode's  "Denkmaler  der  renais- 
sance sculptur."  The  Greek  section  contains  500 
views,  the  Egyptian  1,000;  with  photographs  of 
Greek  and  Egyptian  objects  in  the  Museums  of 
those  and  other  countries.  The  Brunn-Bruckmann 
"Denkmaler  griechischer  und  romischer  sculptur" 
is  here  included  and  the  Arndt-Amelung  "Photo- 
graphische  einzelaufnahmen  antiker  sculpturen." 
Of  especial  interest  is  the  Japanese  section,  contain- 
ing 500  photographs.  Most  of  these  are  a  gift  from 
the  Japanese  Government,  and  include  the  sculpture 
and  painting  in  the  Imperial  Collection  at  Tokio,  in 
the  famous  temples  at  Nara,  Kioto,  etc.,  and  many 
of  the  private  collections. 

Thirty-eight  hundred  lantern  slides  accompany 
and  supplement  the  photograph  collection.  These 
slides  are  provided  with  a  unique  catalogue,  which 
facilitates  reference  by  furnishing  in  every  case  a 
diminutive  print  in  addition  to  the  slide  number. 

In  the  public  catalogue  in  the  reading-room  cards 
for  all  books  are  filed  under  author,  title  and  subject. 
Mr.  R.  Loring  Dunn  is  the  acting  librarian. 

15.     Boston  Society  of  Civil  Engineers 
Library 

The  Library  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Civil  En- 
gineers is  in  Tremont  Temple.  It  is  so  shelved  that 
it  is  easily  accessible  at  all  times  to  the  members  of 
the  society,  whether  or  not  an  attendant  is  at  hand. 

The  collection  is  divided  into  sections  for  con- 
venience, each  section  being  subdivided  into  di- 
visions. Section  one  contains  society  publications, 
transactions,  proceedings,  and  these  are  subdivided 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  31 

by  cities  and  states,  geographically.  Section  two  is 
made  up  of  a  bound  periodical  collection.  The  third 
section  is  unusual.  In  it  are  found  municipal  re- 
ports, including  those  of  all  the  city  departments  in 
the  United  States.  These  are  arranged  alphabet- 
ically; so  also  are  the  reports  in  the  fourth  alcove, 
in  which  the  state  reports  are  deposited.  Govern- 
ment documents  relating  in  any  way  whatsoever  to 
engineering  are  likewise  alphabetically  arranged  in 
the  next  space.  Sixth,  come  bound  volumes  of  con- 
gresses, expositions,  conventions,  and  also  much 
other  material  of  that  sort  not  kept  in  the  first  sec- 
tion. 

The  1897  Report  of  the  Library  Committee  states 
that  sections  seven,  eight,  and  nine  were  to  be  left 
open  for  possible  future  expansion  of  other  classes, 
yet  there  has  apparently  been  no  new  class  which 
could  not  logically  be  shelved  in  some  of  the  regu- 
lar sections.  The  library  classification  here  skips  to 
the  tenth  section  where  one  finds  engineering  texts 
and  works  of  general  information  and  reference. 
These  are  arranged  by  divisions  and  then  by  sub- 
ject; for  instance,  the  materials  division  is  sub- 
divided into  iron  and  steel,  concrete  and  cement, 
wood,  paints  and  varnishes,  and  so  forth.  In  the 
same  way,  each  set  of  books  in  the  library  has  a 
separate  notation,  transactions  of  each  society,  sets 
of  each  periodical,  each  town,  city,  state  and  coun- 
try, with  the  several  departments  of  each.  This 
classification  of  a  section,  division  and  book  number 
for  each,  volume  allows  of  a  limited  expansion  and 
is  suited  to  a  small  specialized  library  where  assist- 
ants are  not  always  in  attendance. 

The  Boston  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  is  the 
oldest  engineering  society  in  America,  having  been 


32  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

founded  in  1848.  It  is  thus  even  older  than  the 
national  organization,  The  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers. 

So  far  as  is  known,  the  library  began  immediately 
with  the  founding  of  the  organization.  As  the  so- 
ciety increased  or  declined,  so  fared  its  library.  The 
collection  now  numbers  between  nine  and  ten  thou- 
sand bound  volumes  and  three  thousand  pamphlets. 
Some  photos  and  maps  are  preserved  and  complete 
files  of  the  society's  publications  are  on  file.  A 
dictionary  catalogue,  although  not  nearly  complete, 
contains  eight  thousand  cards  and  is  extremely  use- 
ful, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  books  are  very 
sensibly  located  and  generally  available  for  consul- 
tation without  the  aid  of  a  catalogue. 

Technical  periodicals,  some  fifty  or  sixty,  are 
regularly  received  by  the  library  and  the  back  num- 
bers are  preserved.  Most  of  the  pamphlet  material 
is  bound. 

A  special  collection  of  catalogue  studies  is  stored 
in  a  separate  case.  This  is  for  ready  reference. 
The  case  contains  mechanical  engineering  cata- 
logues in  fifty  volumes  with  an  index  to  the  data. 

Another  specialty  is  the  Clemens  Herschel  Library 
of  250  books.  Mr.  Herschel,  a  prominent  hydraulic 
engineer  of  New  York  City,  presented  this  col- 
lection and  contributes  to  it  frequently.  He  has 
endeavored  to  assemble  a  unique  library  of  engi- 
neers and  by  engineers.  Thus  the  work  of  engineers 
constitutes  an  extremely  valuable  biographical  sec- 
tion, and  the  books  by  engineers  cover  every 
imaginable  subject  and  tend  to  show  the  wide  range 
of  activities  in  which  engineering  men  are  engaged. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  33 

The  first  thing  which  met  my  gaze  in  the  Her- 
schel  Collection  was  Herbert  Spencer's  Synthetic 
Philosophy  in  ten  volumes;  the  next  was  a  history 
and  other  works  relating  to  Leonardo  Da  Vinci.  I 
wondered  what  the  connection  was  between  these 
men  and  the  engineering  profession.  The  encyclo- 
pedia enlightened  me  on  this  point,  and  disclosed  the 
fact  that  both  of  the  men  were,  among  other  things, 
engineers — Da  Vinci  being  a  civil,  mechanical  and 
military  engineer.  Spencer  was  a  railroad  engi- 
neer. 

The  New  England  Association  of  Gas  Engineers 
occupies  a  small  section  of  the  library  for  their 
small  collection  of  books.  This  is  a  gas  collection 
containing  material  on  gas  combustion,  production, 
and  engineering;  petroleum;  fuels,  gas  journals  and 
proceedings — not  a  large  library,  but  there  is  not 
such  an  extremely  large  number  of  printed  books 
along  this  line.  All  highly  technical  libraries  are, 
as  a  rule,  small. 

Engineers — civil,  electrical,  mechanical,  mining — 
are  eligible  to  membership  in  the  Boston  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers.  The  Society  consists  of  members, 
honorary  members,  juniors  and  associates.  Anyone 
may  use  the  library  for  reference,  but  circulation  is 
restricted  to  members  only. 

The  librarian  of  the  society  has  always  been  an 
officer  of  the  organization.  Mr.  S.  E.  Tinkham  is 
now  secretary  and  librarian.  Three  years  ago  Miss 
Mary  E.  Evans  was  appointed  assistant  librarian, 
and  since  then  has  devoted  her  entire  time  to  the 
reorganization  of  the  library. 


34  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

16.     Boston  Society  of  Natural  History 
Library 

The  most  complete  library  of  its  kind  in  New 
England  is  maintained  in  the  building  of  the  Boston 
Society  of  Natural  History.  Starting  with  the  very 
establishment  of  the  society  in  1830,  the  library  has 
been  developed  along  the  line  of  natural  history, 
specializing  particularly  on  zoology,  botany,  geol- 
ogy, mineralogy  and  some  travel.  The  collection 
now  numbers  41,000  bound  volumes  and  about 
35,000  pamphlets  and  unbound  material. 

The  Natural  History  Library  is  located  on  the 
first  floor  of  the  museum  building  and  occupies  three 
large  rooms.  One  of  these  has  recently  been  en- 
tirely remodelled  with  fire-proof  construction 
throughout.  The  new  quarters  contain  three  levels 
of  stacks,  the  lowest  of  which  is  eleven  feet  high 
and  contains  the  greatest  number  of  feet  of  shelv- 
ing. Map  cases  and  locked  cases  for  rare  material 
are  also  kept  in  this  room. 

The  library  catalogue  in  three  separate  cases  con- 
tains over  a  hundred  thousand  cards.  All  material 
is  catalogued  by  authors  and  title  but  not  by  subject. 

The  entire  collection  is  made  up  of  texts,  books  in 
popular  and  technical  style  and  a  large  part  of  the 
important  matter  including  sets  of  journals  and  of 
transactions  of  societies  of  natural  history  printed 
on  the  subjects  which  are  primarily  collected.  Many 
of  the  volumes  are  extremely  old  and  rare  and  not 
to  be  had  elsewhere  in  this  vicinity.  Publications 
of  learned  bodies  and  "Proceedings,"  "Memoirs," 
and  "Occasional  Papers"  are  secured  through  ex- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  35 

change  of  the  publications  of  the  Society  of  Natural 
History. 

An  unusual  file  of  foreign  learned  society  printed 
matter  is  in  the  library,  making  a  reference  source 
difficult  to  equal.  Particular  attention  has  been 
given  to  works  concerning  the  natural  history  of 
New  England. 

Most  of  the  important  journals  relating  to  natural 
history  are  obtained  through  subscription  or  gift, 
including  American,  Canadian,  English,  French, 
German  and  Italian  journals. 

The  library  is  maintained  by  the  Society  and 
books  circulate  among  the  members.  The  general 
public  may  be  allowed  the  use  of  its  facilities  for 
reference,  but  no  books  may  be  drawn  for  home 
use. 

The  librarian  of  this  collection  is  Dr.  Glover  M. 
Allen,  who  is  also  secretary  of  the  Boston  Society 
of  Natural  History. 

17.     Boston  Transcript  Library 

The  library  of  the  Boston  Transcript  is  in  two 
divisions.  The  first  is  the  literary.  The  literary 
branch  of  the  editorial  department  keeps  track  of 
all  the  volumes  sent  in  for  review.  These  are 
weeded  out  at  irregular  intervals  because  of  lack  of 
adequate  shelving  space,  and  because  of  their  gen- 
eral lack  of  usefulness  to  a  newspaper  office.  Never- 
theless they  form  a  very  respectable  collection  at  all 
times. 

The  second  division  of  the  library  is  the  utili- 
tarian. This  is  not  in  the  "library,"  so-called,  but 
in  the  reference  department.  It  is  purely  a  source 


36  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

of  information,  consisting  principally  of  clippings. 
As  one  of  the  men  said,  referring  to  the  book-room, 
"That's  the  library,  but  when  they  want  to  find  out 
anything  they  come  here." 

The  information  library  is  made  up  of  a  larger 
proportion  of  pamphlet  and  clipping  material  than 
the  general  library.  It  is  a  highly  specialized  special 
library,  made  for  journalists  and  newspaper  men. 

In  this  collection  some  books,  few  in  number  but 
great  in  real  worth,  are  kept.  These  comprise  a 
small  representative  collection  of  almanacs,  atlases, 
biographies,  Congressional  records,  dictionaries  and 
directories,  encyclopaedias,  government  documents, 
and  other  works  of  similar  nature.  One  of  the 
most  valuable  and  frequently  used  sources  of  in- 
formation is  a  bound  file  of  the  Transcript  which 
comprises  all  editions  of  every  issue.  Many  times 
valuable  reference  material  is  found  here  after  it 
has  once  been  investigated  and  put  into  print. 

The  indexing  is  the  most  important  part  of  the 
reference  work.  It  keeps  several  people  busy  at  all 
times  clipping.  The  index  trays,  similar  to  the 
vertical  file  correspondence  cases,  number  over  300, 
and  as  each  tray  holds  two  envelopes,  side  by  side, 
the  total  number  of  envelopes  is  approximately 
100,000.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  estimate  the 
total  number  of  clippings,  for  there  are  anywhere 
from  20  to  60  or  70  in  each  envelope. 

The  card  index,  similar  to  the  library  catalogue, 
is  the  key  to  the  entire  collection.  It  is  not  techni- 
cal, because  scientific  library  practice  must  be  sacri- 
ficed and  a  system  used  which  appeals  to  the  jour- 
nalistic searcher,  who  is  interested  in  getting  quick 
results  rather  than  familiarizing  himself  with  the 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  37 

fine  points  in  library  science.  The  bound  volumes 
in  the  miscellaneous  book  collection  as  well  as  the 
public  documents,  are  catalogued  and  for  the  clip- 
pings subject  headings  are  used. 

Photographs  of  people  and  all  conceivable  objects 
on  the  universe  are  catalogued  also  in  this  file.  But 
the  photographic  material  itself  is  housed  in  the  art 
department,  although  newspapers  using  large  num- 
bers of  cuts  usually  keep  the  clippings  and  photo- 
graphs in  the  same  department.  The  clipping  room 
in  a  newspaper  office  is  generally  called  by  its  tech- 
nical name,  which  is,  in  the  language  of  the  jour- 
nalist, "the  morgue."  Another  term  which  appears 
to  be  peculiarly  Bostonian,  is  "the  graveyard."  The 
functions  of  the  "morgue"  are  highly  specialized, 
and  its  construction  is  very  careful. 

One  section  of  the  room  is  set  apart  for  the 
"obits,"  that  is,  clippings  and  sketches  of  people. 
These  are  dated  and  filed  in  envelopes  with  the 
names  written  across  the  tops.  The  data  relating 
to  very  prominent  people  is  kept  as  up  to  date  as 
possible.  When  anyone  dies,  all  necessary  data  for 
the  "story"  is  at  hand. 

But  the  obituary  envelopes  are  of  much  greater 
importance  than  as  "coffin"  material.  They  are 
constantly  referred  to  for  personal  data,  invaluable 
for  a  hurry  call  for  a  write-up  of  some  obscure  or 
unpretentious  individual  who  may  suddenly  have 
been  brought  into  the  limelight.  Some  concerns 
supply  biographical  sketches  especially  for  news- 
papers. 

Another  section  of  the  index  is  devoted  to  coun- 
tries. Every  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth  is  rep- 
resented. The  material  relating  to  each  country  is 


38  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

minutely  subdivided.  For  instance,  Russia  is  in- 
dexed as  to  agriculture,  army,  art,  commerce,  de- 
fense, fishing,  industries,  journalism,  language, 
mining,  and  navy.  The  majority  of  subject  head- 
ings are  divided  and  subdivided  again  many,  many 
times,  as  defense,  navy,  shipping,  Trojan,  etc. 

A  miscellaneous  file  is  maintained.  This  does  not 
relate  to  anything  in  particular.  It  is  made  up  of 
live  issues  of  the  day,  composed  mainly  of  descrip- 
tions of  such  subjects  as  aviation,  invention,  re- 
ligion, sports.  This  file  is  invaluable  and  it  forms 
a  miniature  encyclopaedia  of  modern  events. 

There  are  newspaper  offices  in  the  country  which 
index,  catalogue,  and  feebly  endeavor  to  run  the 
"morgue"  along  the  lines  of  library  science.  But 
the  easiest  and  most  accessible  plan  is  that  followed 
by  the  Transcript.  The  requirements  of  the  publi- 
cation naturally  determine  the  nature  of  the  ma- 
terial to  be  collected. 

The  Transcript  Library  is  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  Fred  W.  Ford,  news  editor,  who  started  the  col- 
lection over  20  years  ago  as  a  side  line  additional  to 
his  regular  duties.  It  is  now  generally  conceded  to 
be  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind.  This  collection  should 
be  of  interest  to  students  of  journalism  and  to  those 
who  contemplate  entering  into  the  newspaper  field. 
The  reference  department  is  open  to  the  public  for 
research. 

18.     College  of  Business  Administration 
Library 

The  College  of  Business  Administration  Library 
at  Boston  University  is  gradually  building  up  a 
well-rounded  collection  of  business  literature,  both 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  39 

in  book  and  pamphlet  form.  The  library  contains 
works  on  the  "academic"  studies  necessary  in  the 
thorough  training  of  men  for  the  business  profes- 
sion. Besides  these,  it  has  a  working  collection  of 
accounting,  which  is  unusually  complete.  It  has 
complete  files  of  the  Journal  of  Accountancy,  and 
nearly  every  book  relating  to  accounting  published 
in  the  last  ten  or  more  years. 

The  literature  of  journalism  has  developed  to  a 
large  extent  and  the  C.  B.  A.  Library  contains  some 
texts  published  in  England  as  well  as  American 
works.  Publications  of  university  schools  of  jour- 
nalism are  numerous  and  leaflet  material  is  a  neces- 
sary adjunct  to  the  information  in  this  department. 

Other  subjects  which  are  well  represented  are  the 
various  lines  of  insurance,  education,  commercial 
law,  transportation,  advertising  and  salesmanship. 
A  few  books  regarding  the  many  industries  and 
trades  are  kept,  and  the  subject  of  foreign  trade, 
including  ocean  transportation,  descriptions  of 
South  American  countries,  exporting  and  foreign 
languages,  are  all  important  divisions  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  library.  Several  studies  of  an  aca- 
demic nature,  economics,  English,  psychology,  and 
others,  have  lately  developed  a  new  class  of  printed 
books  in  their  specific  relation  to  business. 

General  business  information,  comprising  the 
various  smaller  sub-divisions  about  which  there  has 
been  very  little  printed,  are  perhaps  the  greatest  in- 
formation sources  for  the  average  all-around  execu- 
tive. In  this  classification  there  is  material  relating 
to  credit  and  collections,  purchasing,  retail  trade, 
management,  and  others. 

The  printed  word  in  business  is  necessary  in  every 


4O  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

well  managed  business  organization  in  the  world 
to-day.  That  it  is  becoming  an  acknowledged  fact 
is  evident  in  the  increased  number  of  specialized 
libraries  or  sources  of  information  in  the  adminis- 
trative forces  of  the  larger  business  enterprises. 
Not  every  concern,  however,  is  able  to  maintain  a 
department  of  this  sort. 

Library  development  in  recent  years  has  been 
more  strikingly  evident  in  the  public  libraries  rather 
than  in  those  of  educational  institutions,  yet  there 
are  always  exceptions.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  Busi- 
ness Administration  Library  at  Boston  University. 
In  the  past,  throughout  the  country,  university  au- 
thorities have  sometimes  failed  to  recognize  the  real 
function  of  the  university  library,  the  larger  scope 
and  functions  of  its  activities,  the  multiplicity  of  de- 
tail connected  with  its  administration.  But  in  the 
case  of  the  College  of  Business  Administration,  the 
Board  of  Guarantors,  composed  of  prominent  busi- 
ness men  throughout  Greater  Boston,  have  fully 
recognized  that  the  library  must  necessarily  become, 
if  it  is  to  obtain  its  rightful  position,  the  very  centre 
of  the  department — a  sort  of  working  laboratory 
for  each  and  every  division. 

Although  the  first  function  of  an  institutional  li- 
brary is  to  meet  the  demands  made  by  its  students 
and  faculty,  there  is  another  important  field  of 
service  lying  at  its  very  door.  This  is  the  idea  of 
being  of  greater  service  to  business  interests  in  gen- 
eral. The  library  is  primarily  for  reference  and 
does  not  circulate  its  material,  but  to  those  who 
find  a  real  use  for  the  books  on  the  shelves,  vertical 
file  material,  or  maps  and  photographs,  all  possible 
assistance  will  be  given  freely. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  41 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  College  of  Business  Ad- 
ministration to  be  of  service  to  the  city,  state  and 
nation,  and  the  library  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
college  fully  recognizes  the  part  which  it  must  take 
in  future  development. 

Mr.  Ralph  L.  Power  is  librarian  of  the  college  as 
well  as  curator  of  the  museum. 


19.     Christian  Science  Monitor  Library 

The  Christian  Science  Monitor  Library  is  a  prac- 
tical collection  of  1,500  books  and  pamphlets. 
General  and  biographical  information  and  books  of 
reference  form  the  bulk  of  the  material.  Because 
of  the  international  character  of  the  paper,  historical 
data  is  carefully  collected  for  reference  work. 

Books  relating  to  journalism,  printing  and  pub- 
lishing are  also  included.  Government  reports  and 
documents,  federal,  state  and  city,  are  a  feature  of 
the  library.  Volumes  pertaining  to  subjects  which 
are  no  longer  current  topics  are  weeded  out  from 
time  to  time. 

One  room  is  devoted  to  clippings  from  the  Moni- 
tor and  other  newspapers.  These  are  placed  in  en- 
velopes and  filed  according  to  subject  matter  and 
form  a  good  sized  "newspaper  morgue."  When  the 
subject  matter  becomes  available  in  books  or  other 
sources  this  file  material  is  discarded. 

The  Christian  Science  Monitor  is  bound  in  quar- 
terly volumes  and  the  material  is  card  indexed  by 
subjects.  A  card  catalogue  is  kept  also  for  the 
books  of  reference. 

Books  in  the  collection  have  been  accumulating 


42  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

since  the  fall  of  1908,  but  the  library  has  existed  in 
its  present  form  only  since  the  first  of  the  year  1917. 

The  library  is  used  principally  as  a  key  to  matters 
which  may  come  up  in  connection  with  the  editing 
of  the  paper.  Employees  and  members  of  the  staff 
may  take  material  from  the  library  during  the  day, 
but  everything  must  be  returned  each  night.  The 
library  is  in  charge  of  Mr.  W.  Frederick  Berry,  as 
librarian,  with  general  oversight  by  the  editor  of  the 
Monitor,  Mr.  Frederick  Dixon. 

20.     Civic  Service  House  Library 

The  Civic  Service  House  at  no  Charles  Street 
has  a  library  whose  specialty  is  immigration,  with 
special  emphasis  on  the  boy  problem.  There  are 
1,000  books  and  500  pamphlets,  none  of  which  is 
catalogued.  The  material  is  shelved  and  a  list  of 
the  contents  of  each  section  posted  at  the  end. 
Most  of  the  books  are  donated. 

The  House  is  a  school  of  citizenship  which  aims 
to  train  and  help  immigrants,  largely  Poles  and 
Italians,  with  a  few  Jews,  to  become  citizens. 
Classes  are  held  during  the  evenings  in  winter,  and 
clubs  of  an  educational  and  literary  nature  are 
formed  by  the  students.  In  these  the  library  plays 
an  important  part. 

Text-books  on  all  subjects  from  spelling,  history, 
etc.,  to  commercial  topics  are  kept  for  the  use  of 
students  who  do  not  buy  their  own  books.  The 
pamphlets  on  different  topics  are  mostly  in  Yiddish. 
A  good  list  of  newspapers  in  many  languages  is  sub- 
scribed to. 

Some  of  the  material  is  fiction  for  general  read- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  43 

ing.     No  circulation  is  allowed,  but  the  library  is 
open  to  the  public. 

No  regular  librarian  is  employed.  The  library 
comes  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Philip  Davis, 
Director  of  the  Civil  Service  House. 

21.     Congregational  Library 

The  Congregational  Library  maintained  by  the 
American  Congregational  Association  at  14  Beacon 
Street  is  a  large  library  devoted  broadly  to  religion 
and  history,  especially  the  religious  history  of  the 
New  England  States.  In  1853  the  Congregational 
Library  Association  was  established,  and  in  1864 
the  library  became  a  department  of  the  American 
Congregational  Association. 

There  are  in  the  collection  65,000  books,  and 
60,000  pamphlets.  Nearly  200  periodicals  are  re- 
ceived at  the  library. 

There  are  several  special  rooms  or  collections  in 
the  library.  Among  these  are  the  Bible  Room  con- 
taining besides  other  works  a  folio  chained  Bible 
in  four  volumes;  a  locked  stack  containing  books 
on  the  development  of  Congregationalism;  and  the 
Bishop  Stubbs  library  of  6,000  volumes,  chiefly  on 
English  history  and  religion. 

The  collection  includes  not  only  books  on  Chris- 
tianity but  works  on  Buddhism  and  other  religions. 
The  American  History  collections  consist  of  local, 
sectional  and  national  material.  Philosophy,  ethics, 
sociology,  poetry  and  other  like  subjects  are  also 
represented. 

The  library  is  open  to  the  general  public  for 
reference. 


44  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

This  is  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  the  library  and  the 
thirtieth  year  of  the  present  librarian.  Dr.  Wil- 
liam H.  Cobb,  who  is  also  assistant  treasurer  of  the 
association. 

22.     Cram  and  Ferguson  Library 

Cram  and  Ferguson,  architects,  at  15  Beacon 
street,  established  their  library  when  the  firm  was 
organized  in  1892.  It  has  1,000  volumes  and  many 
hundreds  of  pamphlets  from  this  country  and 
Europe. 

The  material  deals  with  architecture  and  allied 
arts,  sculpture,  painting,  decorations,  stained  glass, 
etc.  The  architectural  collection  contains  works  on 
the  Classic,  Romanesque,  Gothic  and  Byzantine. 

All  periodicals,  of  which  there  is  a  goodly  num- 
ber, are  kept  for  the  period  of  one  year.  After  that 
the  illustrations  and  other  valuable  material  are 
clipped  and  filed  in  portfolios. 

A  card-index  system  has  been  devised  for  the 
entire  collection,  but  it  is  very  little  used,  as  the 
employees  have  become  accustomed  to  using  the 
books  without  it. 

The  firm  employs  no  regular  librarian.  Dr. 
Ralph  A.  Cram,  senior  member  of  the  firm,  is  Pro- 
fessor of  Architecture  at  the  Massachusetts  Insti- 
tute of  Technology. 

23.     Davenport  and  Company  Library 

The  A.  H.  Davenport  and  Company  Library,  573 
Boylston  Street,  composed  of  three  hundred  books 
and  hundreds  of  clippings,  covers  the  fields  of  in- 
terior decorating,  architecture  and  furniture. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  45 

Irving-Casson  and  Davenport  and  Company  both 
collected  books  as  they  needed  them.  When  the 
firms  were  united  a  few  years  ago  the  library  was 
established. 

A  card  catalogue  indexes  the  book  material  by 
subjects.  Trade  catalogues  are  filed  and  house  or- 
gans and  technical  periodicals  are  received  regu- 
larly in  the  library. 

A  useful  scrap-book  is  kept  in  loose  leaf  form. 
Cuts  of  furniture  of  different  periods  and  styles  are 
clipped  from  various  sources  and  arranged  in  the 
folio.  Thus  furniture,  tapestries  and  other  decora- 
tions for  all  uses  are  easily  available. 

The  Davenport  Library  is  for  the  use  of  employee 
and  the  public.  Miss  Ruth  V.  Cook  is  their  libra- 
rian. 

24.     Edison  Electric  Illuminating   Co.   of 
Boston  Library 

The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company  estab- 
lished a  library  in  1907  at  their  Boylston  Street 
quarters  which  were  moved  in  1914  to  1165  Massa- 
chusetts Avenue,  Roxbury.  There  is  still  a  branch 
library  at  the  old  offices.  The  material  at  the  main 
library  comprises  4,000  books  and  500  pamphlets, 
largely  devoted  to  electrical  engineering.  The  li- 
brary committee  meets  quarterly  to  discuss  addi- 
tions to  the  book  collection. 

The  collection  is  a  technical  one  and  books  on 
electricity,  manufacturing  and  catalogues  of  differ- 
ent manufacturers  predominate. 

Everything  is  classified  by  the  decimal  system  and 
an  excellent  card  catalogue  is  kept  up  to  date.  Clip- 


46  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

pings  are  filed  in  the  vertical  file.  The  library  enters 
into  inter-library  loans.  By  this  means  material  in 
other  libraries  is  instantly  available.  A  list  of 
magazines  is  sent  to  each  employee  from  which  he 
chooses  six  that  are  sent  to  him  regularly.  An 
average  of  800  magazines  are  sent  out  each  month. 

The  library  is  very  adequately  housed,  and  there 
are  lounging  and  smoking-rooms  for  the  em- 
ployees in  the  same  building. 

While  primarily  for  the  employees  of  the  com- 
pany, material  is  accessible  to  the  public  if  not  ob- 
tainable elsewhere. 

Mr.  V.  L.  Voight  is  the  librarian  and  Mr.  A.  D. 
Stone  the  assistant  librarian. 

25.     Elizabeth  Peabody  House  Library 

The  Elizabeth  Peabody  House  on  Charles  Street 
maintains  in  its  buildings  two  libraries,  both  of 
which  are  being  built  up  wholly  by  donations. 

The  first  is  a  collection  of  five  hundred  books  on 
kindergarten  subjects  with  a  few  on  sociology  and 
general  subjects.  It  is  owned  by  the  Froebel  Club— 
a  kindergarten  club. 

Books  are  fully  catalogued.  The  material  does 
not  circulate  and  is  used  only  by  club  members. 

The  second  is  the  Children's  Library  of  500  vol- 
umes. It  has  no  special  classification  system.  It 
belongs  to  the  Settlement  and  is  for  the  use  of  the 
children,  though  no  circulation  privileges  are  given. 

The  Elizabeth  Peabody  House  is  a  settlement 
house  supported  by  private  donations.  Both  libra- 
ries were  established  about  1900.  Miss  Ethel  M. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  47 

Remely,  resident  in  charge,  has  the  administration 
of  the  libraries. 

26.     Wm.  Filene's  Sons  Company  Library 

William  Filene's  Sons  Company  maintains  on  the 
top  floor  of  the  building  a  library  for  its  employees. 
It  was  started  in  1912  with  the  opening  of  the  store. 
The  collection  is  all  non-fiction. 

The  library  is  operated  solely  for  employees  of 
the  firm,  and  they  alone  may  take  books  out.  Gen- 
eral business,  including  efficiency,  scientific  manage- 
ment and  the  like,  make  up  the  larger  part  of  the 
material. 

There  are  500  books  and  600  pamphlets  which 
are  kept  in  verticle  files.  The  decimal  classification 
is  used  and  the  books  are  catalogued. 

The  library  is  used  as  a  means  of  welfare  work 
for  developing  the  employees.  To  this  end  material 
requested  by  them  will  be  added  to  the  collection. 
Cooperation  with  the  Public  Library  adds  to  the 
value  of  the  library,  although  it  is  not  a  depository 
or  in  any  way  connected  with  the  library  system  of 
the  city. 

Miss  Margaret  E.  Murray  is  the  librarian. 

27.     Franklin  Union  Library 

The  Franklin  Union,  an  endowed  school  of  tech- 
nology of  preparatory  school  grade,  maintains  a 
library  which  is  open  to  the  students  and  the  public 
during  the  school  year. 

The  library  was  organized  in  1907  and  is  main- 
tained by  general  funds  founded  by  Benjamin 


48  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

Franklin  and  continued  by  Andrew  Carnegie.  The 
profits  of  the  supply  shop  operated  by  the  school  are 
also  contributed  to  the  library. 

There  are  500  books  and  about  the  same  number 
of  pamphlets.  The  library  specializes  in  steam, 
electrical,  chemical,  civil  and  gasoline  engineering. 

Bulletins  and  catalogues  of  various  institutions, 
especially  technology  establishments  are  collected, 
as  well  as  a  large  number  of  very  useful  manufac- 
turers, catalogues  and  announcements. 

The  material  of  the  library  does  not  circulate. 
Miss  E.  A.  Caiman  is  the  librarian. 

28.     Hollis  French  and  Allen  Hubbard 
Library 

Hollis  French  and  Allen  Hubbard,  consulting  en- 
gineers, maintain  a  library  at  their  offices,  88  Pearl 
Street.  It  is  the  personal  property  of  Mr.  French 
and  Mr.  Hubbard. 

There  are  about  400  bound  volumes  and  two  or 
three  hundred  pamphlets.  The  firm  has  been  in 
existence  since  1898  and  books  have  been  bought  as 
they  were  needed.  The  general  subjects  covered 
are:  mineralogy,  geology,  mechanical  and  electrical 
engineering,  manufactures  and  physics. 

The  pamphlet  collection  consists  chiefly  of  en- 
gineering papers  and  pamphlets. 

The  library  is  fully  catalogued.  Books  may  be 
used  and  circulated  among  the  employees  of  the 
firm,  but  the  library  is  not  for  public  use. 

No  regular  librarian  is  employed. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  49 

29.     Insurance  Library  Association 

The  Insurance  Library  maintained  by  the  Insur- 
ance Library  Association  of  Boston  at  141  Milk 
Street  is  the  most  complete  library  of  the  literature 
of  fire  insurance  and  fire  protection  engineering  in 
the  United  States.  In  fact,  it  is  believed  to  be  the 
most  complete  in  the  world. 

All  standard  works  on  fire  insurance  and  fire  pro- 
tection engineering;  sets  of  all  the  British  and 
American  insurance  organizations;  practically  com- 
plete sets  of  the  reports  of  government  supervising 
insurance  officials,  both  for  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  and  its  colonies,  and  an  enormous 
mass  of  pamphlets,  clippings  and  special  reports  col- 
lected from  many  sources  in  both  Great  Britain  and 
America  are  in  this  library. 

Among  the  unusually  complete  sets  on  insurance 
periodicals  are  some  of  the  earliest  published  in 
England  and  the  United  States.  The  Association 
has  spared  no  effort  to  secure  documents  and  other 
material  which  throw  light  upon  the  manner  in 
which  fire  insurance  and  fire  protection  engineering 
have  developed.  In  many  respects  the  collection  of 
early  fire  insurance  policies,  broadsides,  photo- 
graphs, and  manuscripts  could  not  be  duplicated. 

The  Insurance  Library  has  been  made  the  custo- 
dian of  a  most  interesting  collection  of  fire  prints 
and  engravings,  the  property  of  Gayle  T.  Forbush, 
president  of  the  association.  Recently  one  of  the 
broadsides  issued  in  London  in  1681,  by  Dr.  Nicho- 
las Barbon,  one  of  the  pioneer  fire  insurance  men, 
came  into  its  possession.  This  broadside,  which  is 
notable  as  containing  one  of  the  completest  argu- 


50  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

ments  for  fire  insurance  made  at  the  time  the  system 
was  being  projected,  is  probably  the  only  one  of  its 
kind  in  existence  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Other  features  of  the  library  collection  would 
well  repay  the  investigator. 

It  is  difficult  to  appraise  the  value  of  the  special 
library  in  terms  of  the  number  of  its  books  and 
pamphlets.  Nevertheless  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  Insurance  Library  contains  some  15,000 
books  and  pamphlets  and  a  very  considerable  num- 
ber of  classified  clippings  and  cuttings  from  news- 
papers and  magazines. 

Its  collection  is  made  easily  accessible  by  an 
analytical  card  index  now  numbering  between 
45,000  and  50,000  cards.  This  index  is  being  added 
to  at  the  rate  of  8,000  cards  a  year. 

The  library  is  maintained  by  an  association  in- 
corporated under  the  laws  of  Massachusetts.  A 
board  of  twelve  trustees,  five  of  whom  are  nomi- 
nated by  the  executive  committee  of  the  National 
Board  of  Fire  Underwriters  of  New  York,  act  in 
a  supervisory  capacity. 

The  library  issues  a  quarterly  bulletin,  which 
prints  lectures  given  before  the  Association's  even- 
ing classes,  and  a  dictionary  index  to  the  current 
literature  of  fire  insurance  and  fire  protection  en- 
gineering. All  of  these  aids  are  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  students  of  fire  insurance  and  allied 
subjects. 

The  maintenance  of  the  library  is  derived  from 
contributions  from  fire  insurance  companies  doing 
business  in  the  New  England  states,  fees  derived 
from  memberships — the  Association  now  having 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  51 

about  450  members — and  a  direct  contribution  from 
the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters.  At  the 
rooms  of  the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters 
in  New  York  City  a  complete  card  index  of  the  ma- 
terial at  the  Insurance  Library  in  Boston  is  on  file. 
The  collection  is  of  such  extreme  importance  as  to 
warrant  this  duplication  of  the  card  index. 

The  Insurance  Library  Association,  incorporated 
in  1887,  has  always  had  a  capable  librarian.  Daniel 
Handy,  the  present  librarian,  was  at  one  time  a 
student  in  Boston  University  and  is  now  Instructor 
in  Fire  Insurance  in  the  College  of  Business  Ad- 
ministration. 

While  the  library  is  maintained  wholly  for  mem- 
bers of  the  Insurance  Library  Association,  students 
who  are  investigating  the  field  of  fire  insurance  and 
fire  protection  engineering  are  frequently  granted 
permission  of  making  use  of  the  map  and  reading- 
room,  and  are  allowed  the  freedom  of  the  book 
stack-room.  For  such  research  work  Mr.  Handy 
is  usually  able  to  grant  the  desired  permission,  al- 
though in  certain  instances  the  authority  of  the 
trustees  must  first  be  secured. 

30.     D.  C.  and  Wm.  B.  Jackson  Library 

In  the  Garden  Building  the  firm  of  D.  C.  &  Wm. 
B.  Jackson,  engineers,  maintains  a  technical  library 
of  which  the  specialty  is  electrical  engineering.  The 
firm,  who  also  have  an  office  in  Chicago,  are  con- 
sulting engineers  for  electrical  and  allied  properties. 
The  business  includes  the  drawing  of  plans  and 
specifications,  examinations  and  reports,  general  su- 
perintendence and  management  and  supervision  of 
construction. 


52  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

This  electrical  engineering  library  began  with  the 
establishment  of  the  firm  in  1908,  but  not  until  1911 
did  it  become  fully  organized  with  a  trained  libra- 
rian in  charge.  The  collection  at  the  present  time 
contains  some  2,500  volumes,  with  12,000  trade 
catalogues  and  pamphlet  material. 

The  trade  catalogues  are  particularly  interesting. 
There  are  thousands  of  them,  containing  descriptive 
and  illustrative  data  relative  to  various  kinds  of 
engineering  appliances  'and  machinery,  especially 
that  relating  to  electrical  engineering.  As  new  cata- 
logues and  bulletins  are  received  they  are  placed 
with  those  which  they  supersede,  an  attempt  thus 
being  made  to  keep,  for  certain  subjects,  complete 
files  of  the  bulletins  of  the  more  important  manu- 
facturers. These  "historical"  files,  especially  the 
ones  containing  cost  data,  are  invaluable  as  works 
of  reference  when  one  considers  new  inventions, 
improvements  in  machinery,  and  fluctuations  in 
prices. 

Besides  these  catalogues  there  are  some  year- 
books which  cover  the  whole  field  but  do  not  go  so 
minutely  into  the  various  phases  as  the  commercial 
catalogues.  All  this  material  is  practically  indis- 
pensable and  gives  information  much  of  which 
would  otherwise  not  be  available  in  any  form,  or  at 
least  in  only  scattered  shape.  Nearly  twenty-five 
vertical  file  cases  are  devoted  to  pamphlet  filing  and 
to  the  "clients'  file,"  which  is  completely  catalogued 
and  indexed.  This  division  contains  confidential 
information  and  literature  relative  to  the  firm's 
clients.  This  division  also  contains  a  large  collec- 
tion of  cost  data  compiled  from  many  sources. 

The  bound  book  collection  consists  mainly  of  the 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  53 

proceedings,  transactions  and  journals  of  scientific 
societies,  and  many  specialized  texts  relating  to  elec- 
trical engineering  in  all  its  various  subdivisions,  and 
to  other  associated  engineering  subjects  and  of 
books  relating  to  management  and  efficiency.  A 
good  assortment  of  trade  directories  for  such  a 
library  is  kept  up  to  date. 

As  in  other  specialized  collections,  many  water 
supply  papers  and  geological  surveys  of  the  states 
are  on  the  shelves.  About  twenty  technical  period- 
icals are  subscribed  to  covering  the  various  branches 
of  engineering. 

Over  100  pamphlet  boxes  containing  a  mass  of 
valuable  data  published  some  years  ago  are  ar- 
ranged by  subjects.  The  pamphlets  were  collected 
previous  to  the  real  organization  of  the  library,  and 
when  they  are  arranged  in  an  accessible  manner 
much  good  material  will  be  discovered  which  would 
not  be  brought  to  light  if  they  were  not  so  arranged. 

The  members  of  the  firm  who  are  authorities  in 
their  line  of  work,  have  been  in  a  position  to  see 
that  nothing  has  escaped  which  should  be  in  a  library 
of  electrical  engineering.  Dugald  C.  Jackson, 
senior  member  of  the  concern,  is  Professor  of  Elec- 
trical Engineering  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology.  Consequently  the  library  has  de- 
veloped an  unusually  well  balanced  collection  of 
material  regarding  this  kind  of  engineering. 

The  use  of  the  library  is  limited  to  the  members 
of  the  firm  and  staff,  except  in  special  cases  when 
permission  is  granted  by  the  members  of  the  firm. 
Miss  Dorothy  G.  Bell  is  the  librarian. 


54  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

31.     Kidder,  Peabody  &  Company  Library 

Kidder,  Peabody  &  Co.  maintain  a  financial  and 
statistical  library  at  their  offices,  115  Devonshire 
St.,  Boston. 

It  corresponds  very  much  to  the  other  financial 
libraries  already  described  in  this  book. 

The  collection  includes  about  3,000  books  and 
pamphlets  catalogued  and  placed  in  their  present  ar- 
rangement in  1909. 

The  material  is  grouped  around  the  regular  as- 
sortment of  financial  and  statistical  data  including 
Poor's  manuals,  railroad  and  public  utility  reports. 

Financial  libraries  have  their  collections  standard- 
ized more  perhaps  than  any  other  library. 

The  library  staff  are  pleased  to  undertake  at  any 
time  to  answer  any  question  that  may  be  asked. 

Mr.  Robert  Storer  is  the  librarian. 

32.     Lamson  Company  Library 

Lamson  Company  has  maintained,  since  the  sum- 
mer of  1915,  a  library  for  the  use  of  its  employees. 
The  business  of  the  firm  is  pneumatic  tubes,  cash 
and  parcel  carriers,  conveyors  and  elevators. 

Since  efforts  are  confined  wholly  to  collecting 
available  data  of  pneumatic  and  conveying  ma- 
chinery, so  the  collection  is  not  very  large.  It  in- 
cludes about  250  books  and  over  100  pamphlets. 

The  books  are  card  catalogued.  Periodical  ar- 
ticles relating  to  the  firm's  business  are  clipped  and 
filed.  When  a  sufficient  number  of  these  clippings 
accumulate  they  are  bound  for  future  reference.  A 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  55 

small  number  of  books  on  salesmanship  and  sales 
management  are  also  kept,  for  the  use  of  employees. 

The  Lamson  Company  Library,  although  prima- 
rily for  the  use  of  the  concern  and  its  employees, 
may  be  used  as  a  last  resort  by  those  who  are  seek- 
ing information  along  the  line  in  which  they  spe- 
cialize. 

Miss  C.  L.  Crockett  is  the  librarian. 

33.     Lee,  Higginson  &  Co.  Library 

Lee,  Higginson  &  Company,  the  old  firm  of  Bos- 
ton bankers  on  State  Street,  established  in  1848, 
have  probably  been  collecting  sources  of  informa- 
tion since  the  organizing  of  the  firm.  Definite  in- 
formation points  to  about  1880  as  the  approximate 
time  when  any  systematic  attempt  was  made  to 
gather  printed  matter  and  when  the  statistical  de- 
partment was  organized  as  a  unit  of  the  company 
the  library  proper  became  a  reality. 

The  library  is  divided  into  three  divisions — the 
main  room  with  offices,  and  two  auxiliary  apart- 
ments across  the  hall.  The  bound  books,  to  the 
number  of  4,500,  include  public  service  commission 
reports,  financial  manuals,  bound  stock  exchange 
sheets,  a  general  reference  collection,  state  depart- 
ment reports  of  insurance,  gas,  electricity,  and  bank 
commissions,  government  documents,  census  re- 
ports, and  a  text-book  collection  relating  to  eco- 
nomicS)  money  and  banking,  stocks  and  bonds,  etc., 
which  is  allowed  to  circulate.  This  is  used  by  bond 
salesmen  in  the  library  and  also  for  home  use. 

One  section  of  the  library  contains  about  eighty 
glass  cases  devoted  to  a  collection  of  duplicate  rail- 


56  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

road  reports,  arranged  alphabetically.  The  regular 
copies  are  in  another  room  for  reference  only,  while 
the  duplicate  collection  is  for  reference  and  possible 
loan.  The  permanent  set  is  bound  with  several 
years  in  each  volume.  Some  go  as  far  back  as  1846. 

Few  periodicals  are  subscribed  to.  Several  were 
formerly  taken  and  the  back  numbers  are  bound  and 
preserved  in  one  of  the  rooms.  The  chronicle  files 
begin  with  the  first  number.  Newspapers  of  cities 
in  which  Lee,  Higginson  &  Company  has  interests 
are  taken  and  clippings  saved. 

The  documents  and  pamphlet  material  number  at 
least  75,000.  Row  after  row  of  vertical  files  house 
such  material  as  mortgages  and  bond  offerings. 
Bond  circulars  are  posted  in  scrap  books.  These 
books  are  numbered  and  the  clippings  are  indexed  in 
a  large  filing-table  which  indexes  books  and  other 
material.  Duplicates  of  the  circulars  are  filed  in 
wooden  drawers. 

An  immense  case  of  sixty- four  sections,  each 
having  six  boxes,  contains  information  about  rail- 
roads, industrial  and  commercial  companies.  This 
includes  letters,  clippings,  articles,  legal  papers,  and 
so  forth.  Each  is  kept  in  an  envelope  and  they  are 
filed  numerically  under  the  company,  thus  bringing 
the  latest  available  material  at  the  end. 

The  library  comes  under  the  statistical  depart- 
ment, and  besides  the  material  already  mentioned  it 
includes  the  regular  stock  of  this  type  of  depart- 
ment, such  as  various  "services,"  corporation  rec- 
ords, daily  reports  and  other  special  financial  sources 
of  information. 

In  libraries  devoted  more  or  less  to  a  specialty,  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  tell  what  will  and  what  will 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  57 

not  be  called  for.  This  accounts  for  such  a  large 
department  and  for  the  store-rooms  of  the  library 
in  another  part  of  the  building.  While  the  library 
collection  is  somewhat  special  along  the  lines  of 
finance,  it  is  more  in  the  nature  of  a  statistical  col- 
lection. 

The  Lee,  Higginson  Library  is  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  C.  E.  Perkins,  head  of  the  statistical  de- 
partment and  library.  It  is  open  to  the  general 
public  for  reference. 

34.     Arthur  D.  Little,  Inc.,  Library 

The  library  of  Arthur  D.  Little,  Inc.,  chemists,  is 
an  ideal  type  of  a  private  commercial  library.  Al- 
though it  has  been  compiled  primarily  for  the  use 
of  the  firm  and  employees,  I,  nevertheless,  feel  sure 
that  a  resume  of  some  of  its  principles  and  practical 
methods  of  application,  stated  briefly,  will  be  of 
benefit  in  bringing  home  to  students  the  place  of 
the  library  in  modern  business. 

Technical  knowledge  is  necessary  for  the  consult- 
ing engineers,  chemists,  and  other  specialists  of  the 
Little  Company.  It  must  not  only  be  at  hand,  but 
it  must  be  at  hand  immediately  and  in  convenient 
form.  This  is  the  principle  on  which  the  collection 
is  laid  out.  The  collection  of  bound  volumes,  num- 
bering approximately  three  thousand,  covers  a  wide 
range  of  subjects  closely  allied  with  the  managerial 
and  technical  work  of  the  firm.  This  material  com- 
prises works  relating  to  such  matters  as  water  sur- 
veys of  the  different  states,  wood  pulp,  various  pub- 
lications in  foreign  languages  of  highly  technical 
subjects,  books  on  engineering,  industrial  and  tech- 
nical chemistry,  proceedings,  papers,  and  reports  of 


58  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

chemical  and  other  societies  and  institutes,  public 
service  commission  reports,  geological  surveys  of 
states,  and  mining  engineering. 

Besides  this  mass  of  material  there  are  volumes 
devoted  to  textiles,  plant  industries,  agricultural 
subjects,  minerals,  tanning,  lumbering,  publications 
of  the  United  States,  Canadian  industrial  reports 
issued  by  the  Canadian  government,  rubber,  brass, 
and  metals. 

Supplementary  to  the  bound  collection  there  are 
envelopes  and  folders,  arranged  in  many  vertical 
files.  These  files  contain  catalogues  of  different 
companies  and  pamphlet  material  of  all  sorts.  Map 
cases  hold  large  numbers  of  maps  and  miscellaneous 
blue  prints.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  total  num- 
ber of  pamphlet  material  in  such  a  collection. 
Roughly,  there  must  be  around  eight  or  nine  thou- 
sand. 

The  company  subscribes  to  a  large  number  of 
periodical  publications.  So  in  the  magazine  line  the 
library  contains  periodicals  on  electricity,  power, 
chemistry,  gas,  and  public  service  companies. 

Several  methods  used  in  this  library  and  in  other 
"commercial  laboratories"  may  aptly  be  described 
here.  The  method  of  filing  magazine  articles  is 
very  interesting  and  instructive.  When  a  magazine 
is  first  received  a  slip  listing  the  names  of  those  who 
habitually  read  the  magazines  is  pasted  on  the  front 
cover.  The  names  of  those  who  invariably  read 
that  particular  magazine  are  underlined.  The  maga- 
zine is  then  routed  from  department  to  department, 
from  man  to  man,  as  scheduled,  each  reader  passing 
it  along  to  the  next  man  on  the  list  when  finished. 
If  there  are  any  articles  which  the  reader  desires 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  59 

filed  or  catalogued,  or  called  to  the  attention  of 
other  investigators,  he  notes  them  in  the  blank  left 
at  the  bottom  of  the  tag  for  that  purpose. 

Correspondence  "carding"  is  anoher  modern  idea. 
Many  times  there  is  valuable  material  in  corre- 
spondence; such  data  is  carded  and  filed  in  the  card 
catalogue  after  the  letter  is  answered.  This  leaves 
the  letter  itself  in  the  right  position  in  the  vertical 
file  and  full  information  is  available  through  the 
card  index. 

Museum  material,  such  as  oddly  shaped  and  sized 
samples  of  interesting  products  needed  for  future 
reference,  is  indexed  in  the  catalogue,  labeled,  given 
a  number,  and  deposited  in  cases  with  glass  doors. 

The  library  of  this  company  is  especially  well 
equipped  for  chemical  research  work — for  prac- 
tical chemical  problems.  It  was  started  in  1886, 
when  the  firm  first  began  business  and  its  growth 
ever  since  has  been  closely  linked  with  the  activities 
of  the  firm.  The  library  is  one  of  the  most  exten- 
sively cultivated  special  libraries  of  any  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country.  The  method  used  for  magazine 
distribution  enables  material  of  future  importance 
to  be  thoroughly  catalogued.  The  library  catalogues 
are  exhaustive.  The  analytical  work  necessitates 
much  cabinet  space.  There  are  probably  eighty 
thousand  cards  in  the  firm's  card  catalogue. 

The  library  is  kept  exclusively  for  the  firm's  own 
information.  It  houses  much  material  of  confiden- 
tial nature,  such  as  miscellaneous  technical  reports 
of  the  firm  and  of  other  companies,  volumes  con- 
taining their  certificates  of  analysis — in  short,  re- 
ports and  other  valuable  literature  not  in  print. 


60  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

The  librarian  is  Edward  D.  Greenman.  In  Oc- 
tober the  firm  will  move  to  its  new  building  in 
Cambridge,  where  the  library  will  have  better  facili- 
ties for  carrying  on  its  work. 

35.     Lockwood,  Greene  and  Company 
Library 

Lockwood,  Greene  and  Company  is  another  of 
the  many  firms  who  have  learned  through  practical 
experience  that  it  is  not  economical  nor  advan- 
tageous to  scatter  sources  of  information  among 
several  departments.  This  company  established  its 
library  in  1912,  using  for  the  nucleus  data  accumu- 
lated from  many  years  of  engineering  experience. 
The  next  step  in  development  was  the  purchasing  of 
a  private  library  of  nearly  fourteen  hundred  vol- 
umes from  the  estate  of  Mr.  Brooks,  at  one  time 
connected  with  the  faculty  of  the  New  Bedford 
Textile  School,  who  was  the  originator  and  founder 
of  textile  correspondence  courses.  This  little  ad- 
dition, composing  as  it  did  the  lifetime  collection  of 
a  textile  engineering  man,  proved  very  valuable. 

The  firm  of  Lockwood,  Greene  and  Company  is 
composed  of  two  companies:  Lockwood,  Greene 
and  Company,  Engineers,  and  Lockwood,  Greene 
and  Company,  Managers.  Through  their  several 
offices  in  the  East  and  Middle  West  their  principal 
business  is  to  supervise  the  construction  of  indus- 
trial plants  and  the  operation  of  such  plants.  This 
calls  for  knowledge  of  the  whole  field  of  the  particu- 
lar business,  not  only  as  the  business  is  affected  by 
such  local  conditions  as  labor  supply,  transporta- 
tion facilities,  taxation,  etc.,  but  also  as  it  may  be 
affected  by  many  larger  influences,  such  as  competi- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  61 

tion,  or  the  probable  changes  from  the  development 
of  the  industry,  or  from  revision  of  the  tariff. 

Since  one  man  cannot  be  a  great  specialist  in  two 
things  which  demand  totally  different  points  of 
view,  the  staff  of  the  company  comprises  highly 
specialized  experts  in  every  line.  And  this  means 
a  demand  for  a  highly  specialized  library. 

The  library  covers  thoroughly  the  fields  in  which 
the  firm  is  engaged — steam  engineering,  electrical 
engineering,  water  power  development,  designing 
of  textile  and  other  industrial  plants,  reorganiza- 
tion of  industries,  and  architecture.  Because  the 
firm  is  unique  among  the  exclusively  engineering 
organizations  of  the  country,  the  library  is  unique, 
too,  and  is  adapted  to  the  firm's  own  individual 
needs.  Without  exception  this  library  is  the  largest 
and  most  completely  equipped  textile  manufactur- 
ing library  in  New  England,  and,  considering  the 
preeminent  position  of  New  England  in  this  line,  it 
is  extremely  doubtful  if  this  library  has  any  rivals 
in  this  country  in  its  particular  field. 

While  the  collection  of  books  includes  some  his- 
tories of  textiles  and  many  original  papers  on  calico 
printing  of  fifty  years  ago,  the  main  division  of 
the  entire  library  department  concerns  present-day 
methods  and  tendencies.  With  the  bound  collection 
of  three  thousand  volumes,  and  pamphlets  number- 
ing slightly  more  than  that  figure,  this  library  covers 
an  unusual  scope  of  human  activity  in  the  technical 
field.  Serial  publications  not  of  any  great  value  in 
most  libraries  form  a  most  important  part  of  the 
equipment  here — for  instance,  such  serial  works  as 
congresses,  societies,  conventions;  leagues  and  as- 
sociations of  civil  engineers,  mechanical  engineers, 


62  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

cotton  manufacturers,  dyers,  wool  manufacturers, 
cement  users,  architects,  building  constructors  and 
other  such  bodies. 

The  books  of  the  collection,  like  other  material, 
circulate  for  reference  among  the  executive  staff. 
This  part  of  the  library  covers  many  branches  in  a 
general  way  and  many  others  quite  specifically. 
These  subjects — they  are  all  more  or  less  sub- 
divided— are:  dyeing,  calico  printing,  wool,  cotton, 
mathematics,  publications  of  the  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey  and  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Standards,  concrete,  building  construction,  archi- 
tecture, textiles,  and  many  others. 

The  textile  division  comprises  technical  works, 
textile  costs,  methods,  managerial  works,  and  a 
goodly  number  of  other  topics  of  special  subdivi- 
sions, such  as  silk,  wool,  cotton,  combing,  cleansing, 
spinning,  weaving,  etc.  Publications  of  textile 
growing  and  methods  in  foreign  countries  play  an 
important  part  in  the  library. 

In  specially  constructed  map  cases  are  kept  maps 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  These 
geological  survey  maps  of  quadrangles  are  issued  in 
the  form  of  a  folio.  The  several  folios,  when  com- 
plete, constitute  a  geologic  atlas  of  the  United 
States.  Each  folio  is  designated  by  the  principal 
town  in  the  quadrangle,  and  comprises  topographic, 
geologic,  economic,  and  structural  maps  of  the  quad- 
rangle, with  other  illustrations  and  general  descrip- 
tion. 

The  new  librarian  at  the  Lockwood,  Greene  and 
Company  Library  is  Miss  Christabel  Robinson.  On 
behalf  of  the  firm  she  will  be  glad  to  offer  library 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  63 

facilities  to  students  particularly  interested  in  this 
line — that  is,  students  of  management;  factory,  of- 
fice, business,  scientific,  and  industrial  efficiency. 
Such  students  will  find  in  this  library  a  wealth  of 
material  for  their  needs. 


36.     Walter  M.  Lowney  and  Company 
Library 

The  Walter  M.  Lowney  and  Company,  confec- 
tioners, established  some  years  ago  a  library  for  the 
several  departments  of  the  business.  It  contains 
nearly  500  books  and  a  quantity  of  pamphlets. 

Some  books  on  business,  such  as  advertising  and 
salesmanship,  are  kept  for  employees  who  are  work- 
ing for  higher  positions.  Books  on  machinery  are 
also  kept,  especially  those  relative  to  the  types  used 
in  candy  manufacture  and  allied  topics.  The  book 
collection  is  catalogued. 

Any  material  connected  with  candy  making  is 
preserved,  such  as  sugar,  pure  food  laws,  adultera- 
tion, etc.  A  few  trade  journals  are  regularly  filed 
like  the  Confectioner's  Journal.  A  good  collection 
of  cook-books  issued  from  various  sources  is  care- 
fully saved  for  reference. 

The  works  of  the  company  are  at  486  Hanover 
Street,  but  the  offices  and  library  are  at  427  Com- 
mercial Street. 

The  library  is  for  the  use  of  the  company  and  is 
not  open  to  the  public. 

Miss  Mary  Casey  is  the  librarian. 


64  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

37.  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture 

Library 

The  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture  main- 
tains a  library  in  its  quarters  in  the  State  House. 
This  library  began  when  the  department  was  or- 
ganized in  1852,  and  is  devoted  chiefly  to  agricul- 
tural literature.  The  principle  subdivisions  are 
dairying,  agronomy,  horticulture,  agricultural  edu- 
cation, agricultural  commerce  and  natural  sciences. 

There  are  4,000  books  in  the  library,  6,000  pam- 
phlets and  a  large  number  of  agricultural  period- 
icals. Files  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture 
and  its  own  Department  are  in  the  library  as  well 
as  experiment  station  bulletins  of  the  government 
and  different  college  and  state  stations. 

A  card  catalogue  brings  out  all  material  under 
author  and  subject.  The  library  is  open  to  the  pub- 
lic and  all  material  circulates. 

The  library  is  used  to  a  great  extent  in  compiling 
publications  and  reports  of  the  State  Department  of 
Agriculture  and  by  special  investigators.  There  is 
only  one  other  agricultural  library  of  any  size  in 
the  state — the  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Agri- 
cultural College. 

Mr.  R.  Edwards  Annin,  Jr.,  is  librarian  of  the 
Board  of  Agriculture  Library.  The  Assistant  Li- 
brarian is  Mr.  H.  E.  Robinson. 

38.  Massachusetts  Bureau  of   Statistics 

Library 

The  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of 
Statistics  was  established  as  a  part  of  the  Bureau's 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  65 

activities  shortly  after  the  founding  of  the  latter  in 
1869.  The  book  collection  numbers  about  3,000 
volumes.  It  consists  principally  of  recent  publica- 
tions relative  to  industrial  subjects,  including  many 
official  reports  of  Bureaus  of  Labor  and  kindred 
departments  in  the  United  States  and  foreign  coun- 
tries. In  addition  to  the  bound  volumes  this  Bureau 
receives  regularly  15  daily  newspapers  published  in 
Massachusetts,  43  weeklies,  104  monthlies,  and  24 
other  periodicals,  making  a  total  of  186. 

The  library  is  in  charge  of  a  Librarian,  but  its 
immediate  direction  lies  with  the  Chief  of  the  Labor 
Division  of  the  Bureau,  because  a  great  majority  of 
the  books,  pamphlets,  periodicals,  etc.,  which  come 
to  the  Bureau  pertain  directly  to  the  work  of  this 
division  or  relate  to  social  or  industrial  matters 
which  come  within  the  broad  scope  of  its  investiga- 
tions. 

In  addition  to  the  library  work  incident  to  the 
proper  listing  and  cataloging  of  the  books,  period- 
icals and  newspapers  received,  the  library  force  does 
considerable  research  work  in  connection  with  the 
preparation  of  the  various  publications  of  the  de- 
partment and  in  answering  numerous  inquiries  re- 
ceived by  the  Bureau.  Another  important  branch 
of  the  library  work  consists  of  the  examination  of 
the  leading  daily  papers  in  Massachusetts,  of  trade 
journals,  official  organs  of  trade  unions,  and  other 
publications,  for  information  relative  to  subjects  in 
which  the  Bureau  is  officially  interested.  The  in- 
formation thus  obtained  is  of  considerable  value, 
since  it  treats  of  matters  of  current  interest  which 
are  being  widely  discussed.  The  more  lengthy  ar- 
ticles thus  obtained  are  filed  in  pamphlet  cases,  and 


66  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

the  clippings  are  classified,  indexed,  and  mounted 
in  scrap  books  devoted  to  specific  subjects  to  which 
they  relate.  In  all,  about  70  topics  are  covered  by 
this  clipping  service.  The  Bureau  also  subscribes 
to  a  private  press  clipping  service  covering  certain 
important  topics,  but  so  limits  this  service  as  to 
avoid  duplication  of  the  work  done  by  its  library 
force. 

The  library  is  maintained  primarily  as  a  refer- 
ence library  for  the  use  of  the  Bureau,  but  responsi- 
ble persons  may  use  its  facilities  for  reference  in 
instances  where  the  material  is  not  accessible  else- 
where. 

Mr.  Roswell  F.  Phelps  is  chief  of  the  Labor 
Division  and  Miss  Helen  G.  Estey  is  librarian. 

39.     Massachusetts  Forestry  Association 
Library 

The  Massachusetts  Forestry  Association,  at  4  Joy 
Street,  shelves  a  library  of  forestry  for  the  use  of 
its  members.  There  are  500  books  and  pamphlets, 
but  no  card  catalogue  is  kept.  The  majority  of  this 
material  has  been  sent  in  from  other  associations 
and  from  the  collections  of  members. 

The  books  include  much  general  forestry  infor- 
mation, and  specifically  state  foresters'  reports  on 
Alabama,  Alaska,  California,  Iowa,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Kentucky,  Maryland,  Michigan,  Missouri, 
Maine,  Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  New  Hampshire,  Oregon,  Pennsylvania, 
Rhode  Island,  Virginia,  Vermont,  Wisconsin  and 
West  Virginia. 

Forestry  information  outside  the  United  States 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  67 

includes  Canada,  Hawaii,  Labrador,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  various  other  places.  "The  Forester"  which 
began  in  1895  and  was  changed  to  "Forestry  and 
Irrigation"  and  later  to  "Forestry  and  Irrigation 
and  Conservation,"  then  to  "Conservation,"  and 
lastly  to  "American  Forestry,"  is  on  the  shelves  of 
the  library,  complete.  Material  on  lumbering,  trees, 
shrubs,  injurious  insects,  economics  of  forestry  and 
forestry  in  New  England  rounds  out  the  collection. 

The  office  of  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of 
New  Hampshire  Forests  is  also  located  at  4  Joy 
Street. 

The  Library  may  be  used  by  the  public,  since  the 
association  was  founded  to  place  before  the  general 
public's  attention  the  vital  need  of  conservation  of 
American  forests. 

The  library  was  established  in  1898.  Mr.  Harris 
A.  Reynolds  is  the  Association  Secretary.  Miss 
Nina  L.  Davison  is  in  charge  of  the  library. 

40.     Massachusetts  Forestry  Department 
Library 

The  library  of  the  Massachusetts  Forestry  De- 
partment, Room  408  in  the  State  House,  was  estab- 
lished in  1904.  Its  main  speciality  is  forestry  and 
arboriculture,  of  which  it  has  200  books  and  2,000 
pamphlets. 

The  book  collection  deals  intensively  with  for- 
estry, insects,  tree  diseases,  and  subjects  bearing  on 
such  studies.  Many  valuable  government  docu- 
ments are  included.  Gypsy  moth  and  similar  topics 
are  carefully  studied  by  experts,  and  material  on  the 


68  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

general  subject,  and  the  activity  of  other  states  has 
been  collected.  In  like  way  every  subject  has  been 
treated  with  an  eye  to  its  practical  use  in  the  work 
of  the  State  Forester. 

A  few  reference  works  are  kept  as  part  of  the 
collection.  But  for  the  most  part  the  entire  collec- 
tion has  been  assembled  and  developed  solely  in 
connection  with  the  work  of  the  Department,  and 
the  material  has  been  added  as  the  needs  arise. 

The  pamphlets  are  kept  in  pamphlet  cases,  which 
are  filed  and  numbered.  The  books  are  catalogued 
by  subjects  and  also  the  individual  cases. 

The  public  may  take  books  out  upon  payment  of 
a  deposit,  which  is  refunded  when  the  volume  is 
returned. 

Mr.  Frank  W.  Rane  is  State  Forester.  Mr.  H. 
O.  Cook,  Assistant  Forester,  has  charge  of  the 
library. 

41.     Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
Library 

The  Massachusetts  Historical  Society — the  oldest 
historical  society  in  the  country — has,  as  part  of  its 
equipment,  an  excellent  library  of  Massachusetts 
and  New  England  history. 

The  collection  includes  about  61,000  volumes, 
120,000  pamphlets  and  5,500  broadsides.  The  li- 
brary was  organized  in  1791  with  gifts  of  books 
donated  by  members  of  the  Society.  The  Rev. 
Jeremy  Belknap  was  the  chief  founder  of  the 
Society. 

The  object  of  the  Society  has  been  the  collection, 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  69 

preservation  and  diffusion  of  the  materials  for 
American  History. 

Fifty  volumes  of  the  "Proceedings"  of  the  So- 
ciety form  another  series  of  its  publications,  cover- 
ing the  record  of  all  its  meetings  for  126  years,  and 
containing  historical  documents  of  permanent  value, 
discussions  by  members  on  interesting  or  important 
historical  questions,  and  memoirs  of  deceased  mem- 
bers. Its  first  volume  of  Collections  was  published 
in  1792  and  the  seventy-second  volume  in  July, 
1917. 

Editions  of  Hubbard's  "History  of  New  Eng- 
land" and  Bradford's  "History  of  Plymouth"  have 
been  printed  by  the  Society;  and  it  has  recently  is- 
sued a  final  edition  of  Bradford  in  two  volumes. 

Among  the  patrons  of  the  Society  are:  Thomas 
Dowse,  who  gave  his  private  library;  Rev.  Robert 
C.  Waterston,  who  bequeathed  the  greater  part  of 
his  private  collection  and  left  a  generous  bequest, 
and  John  Langdon  Sibley,  for  many  years  the  li- 
brarian at  Harvard  College,  its  largest  single  bene- 
factor. 

Ellis  Hall  commemorates  the  bequest  of  the 
dwelling-house  of  Rev.  Dr.  George  E.  Ellis,  a  for- 
mer president  of  the  Society,  which  was  sold  and 
the  proceeds  used  toward  the  erection  of  the  build- 
ing it  now  occupies.  It  has  published  in  its  "Col- 
lections" the  Winthrop,  Mather,  Belcher,  Belknap, 
Pepperrell,  Trumbull,  Heath,  Warren,  Jefferson, 
Bowdoin,  and  Temple  Papers ;  also  Cotton  Mather's 
Diary,  Wetmore  papers  on  Rhode  Island  Commerce, 
Copley-Pelham  Letters,  and  the  Warren-Adams 
Correspondence. 

It  has  a  gallery  of  historical  portraits  and  relics, 


7O  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

among  which  are  the  Appleton  and  Adams  collection 
of  coins  and  medals,  the  crossed  swords  used  by 
Col.  William  Prescott  and  Capt.  John  Linz  at 
Bunker  Hill,  the  punch  bowl  used  by  the  Boston  Tea 
Party,  the  gorget  and  epaulets  of  Washington  and 
the  pen  with  which  President  Lincoln  signed  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation. 

The  Society's  collections  and  its  books  and  papers 
do  not  circulate.  Although  primarily  for  the  use  of 
the  members,  the  library  is  open  to  anyone  every 
week-day,  and  the  Society  desires  to  encourage  his- 
torical research.  For  this  purpose  the  greatest 
source  not  usually  available  is  perhaps  its  large  and 
important  collection  of  old  and  rare  manuscripts. 

The  Acting  Librarian  of  the  Society  is  Julius  H. 
Tuttle. 

42.     Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society 
Library 

The  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society  is  one  of  the  foremost  of  its  kind  in  the 
world,  while  its  collection  of  purely  horticultural 
works  is  the  finest  in  existence.  It  was  founded  in 
1829  and  is  maintained  by  society  and  special  funds. 

The  library  contains  a  superb  collection  of  natural 
science,  including:  horticulture,  floriculture,  botany, 
gardening,  entomology,  forestry.  The  principle  cur- 
rent horticultural  and  agricultural  periodicals  of  the 
world  are  in  the  library. 

A  card  catalogue  has  been  developed  and  a  printed 
catalogue,  being  printed  at  this  time,  will  be  ready 
for  distribution  this  year.  The  classification  scheme 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  71 

is  a  sort  of  Cutter  system  which  has  been  worked 
out  for  the  library. 

Works  upon  the  botany  of  India  and  Southern 
Asia  are  very  complete.  Excellent  material  of  for- 
eign countries  is  also  kept.  A  catalogue  of  plates 
of  plants,  fruits,  flowers,  etc.,  that  are  owned  and 
housed  in  the  Society's  building,  has  been  compiled. 

There  are  in  the  library  20,000  books  and  several 
thousand  pamphlets.  Material  may  be  taken  out  by 
members  only,  but  the  public  has  access  to  the  col- 
lections. 

The  librarian  is  Mr.  William  P.  Rich. 

43.     Massachusetts  Public  Service  Commis- 
sion Library 

The  Massachusetts  Public  Service  Commission 
maintains  at  its  offices,  i  Beacon  Street,  a  well-or- 
ganized library  of  4,000  books  and  2,000  bound 
pamphlets,  covering  transportation,  law,  the  tele- 
graph and  telephone,  and  various  other  subjects, 
with  their  subdivisions. 

The  Commission  supervises  such  utilities  as :  rail- 
roads and  railways,  express  companies,  steamboat 
and  steamship  lines,  telephone  and  telegraph  com- 
panies. Its  library  is  the  only  one  in  the  city  having 
a  complete  collection  of  literature  and  reports  con- 
cerning transportation.  Valuable  materials  are  sev- 
eral sets  of  the  complete  reports  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Railroad  Commission  and  its  successor,  the 
Public  Service  Commission,  and  approximately  full 
sets  of  the  reports  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission and  of  the  various  railroads  and  public  ser- 
vice commissions  throughout  the  country. 


72  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

Many  technical  periodicals  and  magazines  of 
transportation  are  subscribed  to.  About  1,500  of 
the  bound-book  collection  are  in  the  law  section. 

The  library  has  a  very  good  collection  of  books 
relating  to  the  history  of  transportation.  One  of 
the  sets  of  Massachusetts  railroad  reports  already 
referred  to  covers  the  time  from  1834  to  1868  in- 
clusive, viz.,  from  the  beginning  of  railroading  in 
this  Commonwealth  to  the  creation  of  the  Railroad 
Commission.  That  commission  in  1913  became  the 
Public  Service  Commission. 

The  policy  of  the  commission  is  to  preserve  every 
pamphlet  of  importance  in  relation  to  railroad  legis- 
lation and  operation.  Consequently  these  pamphlets, 
which  are  permanently  bound,  cover  the  entire  field 
from  the  first  discussions  of  canal  and  railroad 
transportation  to  the  present  time,  including  every 
turnpike  and  canal  charter  and  all  the  railroad  and 
railway  charters. 

Particular  attention  is  given  to  the  subjects  which 
from  time  to  time  engross  public  attention  in  rela- 
tion to  transportation.  For  instance,  there  is  a  very 
full  collection  of  the  various  public  discussions  in 
relation  to  valuation  of  railroad  right-of-way,  in- 
cluding full  reports  of  the  evidence  in  the  original 
investigation,  and  collections  of  briefs  and  evidence 
submitted  in  subsequent  hearings  by  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  and  in  conferences  of  ex- 
perts. Special  care  has  been  taken  in  indexing  this 
subject  under  the  various  headings  which  relate  to 
theories  regarding  original  cost,  reproduction  cost, 
historical  cost,  opinion  testimony,  franchise  values, 
constitutional  protection,  appraisals,  fare  values, 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  73 

going  value,  depreciation  and  theoretical  deprecia- 
tion. 

Another  subject  to  which  close  attention  is  given 
is  rate-making.  The  material  on  this  subject  in- 
cludes verbatim  copies  of  the  original  discussion  in 
Congress,  all  the  evidence  submitted  and  schedules 
filed  with  the  briefs  and  arguments  in  connection 
with  what  is  known  as  "The  Five  Per  Cent.  Case," 
"The  Minimum  Rate  Case,"  and  the  "Western  Ad- 
vance Rate  Case."  All  of  the  available  statements 
and  briefs  submitted  in  the  recent  "Fifteen  Per 
Cent.  Rate  Case"  were  bound,  catalogued  and  on  the 
library  shelves  within  a  very  few  days  of  their  pub- 
lication. 

The  aim  of  the  Executive  Secretary  has  always 
been  to  coordinate  the  work  of  the  library  with  that 
of  recording  the  records  and  keeping  the  files  of  the 
Commission.  In  this  connection  there  are  in  his 
office  two  consolidated  indexes  relating  to  railroads 
and  railways  in  Massachusetts  from  the  first.  The 
cards  contain  approximately  40,000  items  and  cover 
everything  that  has  happened  to  a  Massachusetts 
railroad  or  railway  from  1825  to  the  present  time, 
either  in  the  General  Court,  the  Railroad  Commis- 
sion, the  Public  Service  Commission  or  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission,  including  the  page 
where  an  order  or  report  appears  in  the  reports  of 
either  of  the  commissions  mentioned,  the  docket 
number  of  the  case  where  the  original  papers  may 
be  found  in  the  files  of  either  commission,  and,  in 
the  case  of  unpublished  orders  or  certificates,  the 
page  where  they  may  be  found  in  the  records;  also 
the  number  of  any  books  in  the  library  relating  to 
the  history  or  business  of  a  corporation. 


74  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

As  books  and  pamphlets  are  received  by  the  li- 
brary they  are  entered  in  the  accession  book  with 
such  detail  that  the  cataloging  may  be  done  later 
without  further  reference  to  the  books  themselves. 
The  card  catalogue  guides  readers  to  the  material  in 
the  library,  and  in  addition  is  a  catalogue  of  all 
Library  of  Congress  cards  referring  in  any  way  to 
the  subject  of  transportation.  These  are  carefully 
classified  so  that  at  any  time  it  will  be  possible  for 
the  commission  to  know  what  books  and  pamphlets 
are  in  print  on  any  subject,  while  if  the  publication 
is  in  the  library  the  classification  number  appears  on 
the  card. 

In  connection  with  the  law  section  of  the  library 
the  Executive  Secretary  prepares  frequent  compila- 
tions of  the  General  Laws  of  Massachusetts  in  rela- 
tion to  railroads  and  railways  and  the  other  classes 
of  utilities  supervised.  The  last  edition  issued  cov- 
ered over  400  pages  and  contained  100  pages  of 
index  in  fine  print.  He  has  also  prepared  two  in- 
dex-digests of  decisions,  precedents,  and  general 
principles  enunciated  by  the  Commission,  of  some- 
what over  100  pages  each. 

The  Annual  Report  of  the  Public  Service  Com- 
mission in  two  volumes  is  also  prepared  and  pub- 
lished under  direction  of  the  Executive  Secretary. 
These  reports,  in  addition  to  their  general  circula- 
tion, are  used  as  a  medium  of  exchange  to  keep  the 
sets  of  reports  of  other  commissions  up  to  date. 

It  is  frequently  necessary  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  law  library  to  make  very  thorough 
studies  of  decisions  and  precedents  in  this  and  other 
states,  and  whenever  this  is  done,  special  cards  are 
placed  in  a  separate  index. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  75 

Two  years  ago,  when  the  subject  of  jitney  regu- 
lation was  engaging  the  attention  of  legislatures, 
commissions,  and  local  authorities  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  a  collection  of  all  the  newspaper  and 
magazine  discussions,  laws,  and  ordinances  was 
made,  and  through  the  inspection  department  the 
situation  in  every  Massachusetts  city  and  town  was 
investigated  and  the  local  ordinances  obtained.  This 
material  was  carefully  bound  for  preservation,  fully 
indexed,  and  used  as  the  basis  of  a  study  of  the 
entire  subject  made  by  the  executive  secretary  which 
appeared  in  volume-  one  of  the  Annual  Report  of 
the  Commission  for  1915. 

This  library  has  never,  except  on  the  jitney  ques- 
tion, made  a  practice  of  preserving  clippings.  But 
all  the  important  weekly  and  monthly  publications 
bearing  upon  its  special  subjects  are  bound  and 
placed  upon  the  shelves.  Such  publications  are  read 
as  they  appear,  and  special  articles  and  editorials 
which  may  be  of  interest  to  the  Commission  are 
catalogued  in  a  special  card  index,  the  printed  in- 
dexes bound  with  the  publications  being  depended 
upon  for  use,  if  needed. 

The  library  has  been  in  process  of  development 
for  many  years.  It  is  open  to  the  public,  but  does 
not  circulate  its  material.  The  Executive  Secretary 
of  the  Public  Service  Commission,  Mr.  Charles  E. 
Mann,  has  direct  charge  of  the  library  and  its  work 
in  addition  to  his  other  duties. 

44.     Mellin's  Food  Company  Library 

The  Mellin's  Food  Company,  Boston,  have  a  li- 
brary of  i  ,000  volumes,  consisting  principally  of 


76  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

books  pertaining  either  directly  or  indirectly  to  In- 
fant Feeding.  They  also  have  many  reference  books 
such  as  the  later  dictionaries,  encyclopaedias,  gazet- 
teers and  several  other  books  that  a  business  house 
would  find  useful. 

Besides  the  bound  volumes,  they  keep  on  file  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  different  Medical,  Chemical 
and  Drug  Journals.  These  are  reviewed  carefully 
and  all  articles  of  interest  are  catalogued.  The 
Medical  and  Drug  Journals  are  kept  intact  until  they 
are  about  a  year  and  a  half  old.  At  that  time  the 
articles  catalogued  are  extracted  and  filed  away  in 
folders  in  a  vertical  file.  The  Journals  that  are  not 
mutilated  are  then  passed  on  to  the  Boston  Medical 
Library.  The  Chemical  Journals  are  bound  and 
kept. 

Card  catalogues  are  maintained  for  both  the 
bound  volumes  and  the  articles  appearing  in  the  dif- 
ferent publications.  In  both  instances  these  are  cata- 
logued under  the  author's  name,  also  title  and  sub- 
ject. 

A  circulating  library  of  upwards  of  seventy-five 
different  magazines  is  also  maintained  for  the  em- 
ployees who  wish  to  avail  themselves  of  it. 

The  Library  is  not  open  to  the  general  public,  but 
the  company  are  very  glad  to  permit  the  use  of  it  to 
anyone  who  will  apply. 

Mr.  Philip  A.  Myrick  is  the  company  librarian. 

45.     Merchants  National  Bank  Library 

Organized  only  the  middle  of  last  May,  the  Tex- 
tile Department  Library  of  the  Merchants  National 
Bank  has  already  made  an  unusual  start  towards 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  77 

developing  a  unique  and  useful  collection  of  printed 
matter  on  the  textile  industry  in  all  its  varied  forms. 

The  library  includes  over  three  hundred  bound 
books,  all  of  them  devoted  to  some  kind  of  textile 
work,  about  7,000  clippings  and  pamphlets  and  tex- 
tile periodicals. 

One  of  its  best  means  of  information  is  a  fairly 
complete  set  of  the  annual  and  semi-annual  reports 
of  the  National  Association  of  Cotton  Manufac- 
turers which  contains  various  articles  on  such  phases 
of  the  textile  industry  as  raw  material,  technical 
features,  manufacturing  and  marketing  of  goods, 
foreign  commerce,  et  cetera. 

Other  material  includes  statistics  compiled  by  the 
Department  of  Commerce,  information  on  textile 
mill  centers,  water  power,  available  mill  sites,  trans- 
portation facilities,  warehouse  facilities,  storage, 
rags,  wages,  housing,  labor  conditions,  reports  of 
labor  unions,  labor  laws,  labor  reports,  and  cor- 
poration and  taxation  laws  of  all  textile  and  mill 
states  in  the  United  States. 

Numerous  English  technical  publications  treating 
of  the  textile  industry  and  cotton  growing  have 
been  secured.  All  government  reports  of  the  De- 
partments of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  on  plant- 
ing, grading,  sampling  and  testing  of  cotton,  ware- 
house construction,  cotton  fields  of  Arizona,  Cali- 
fornia, Brazil,  Peru,  Egypt,  Argentine,  Sea  Islands, 
India  and  other  parts  of  the  world  are  carefully 
collected. 

An  information  file  contains  all  current  literature 
of  technical  interest ;  for  instance,  the  latest  develop- 


78  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

ments  of  machinery  manufacture,  crop  reports  of 
government  and  brokers,  articles  on  cost  accounting, 
cost  sheets,  factory  organization  and  administra- 
tion, cotton  fields  of  the  world,  marketing  of  goods 
in  foreign  countries,  textile  manufacture  in  Euro- 
pean and  South  American  countries,  reports  of 
special  investigations  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Commerce,  cotton  goods  market  of  world,  reports 
on  hosiery,  men's  underwear,  clothing,  knit  goods, 
lace  and  other  textile  industries. 

Clippings  are  kept  in  the  vertical  file.  Each  year's 
stock  of  clippings  from  various  sources  is  mounted 
on  paper  a  different  color,  so  that  the  latest  avail- 
able data  is  available  immediately.  First-hand  in- 
formation on  New  England  mills,  with  a  capitaliza- 
tion of  $100,000  or  over,  is  kept  in  compact  form. 
This  includes,  among  other  things,  mill  hands,  cap- 
ital stock,  officers,  equipment,  production,  financial 
statements,  etc. 

The  Textile  Department  issues  monthly  and  oc- 
casional publications  on  the  textile  industry  and  ex- 
port trades  and  also  special  reports  and  letters  on 
government  legislation  affecting  the  textile  interests. 

The  Textile  Department  of  the  Merchants  Na- 
tional is  a  department  of  service  and  cooperation  for 
textile  and  allied  industries  of  the  United  States. 
The  library  is  open  to  the  bank's  clients  and  to  the 
general  public.  The  material  circulates  to  textile  in- 
terests and  service  is  gratuitous. 

W.  Irving  Bullard  is  Manager  of  the  Department. 
The  library  comes  in  immediate  charge  of  the  De- 
partment Secretary,  Ernest  L.  Little. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  79 

46.     Metcalf  and  Eddy  Library 

Metcalf  and  Eddy,  consulting  and  civil  engineers, 
14  Beacon  Street,  organized  their  library  in  1907. 
It  comprises  3,000  volumes  and  2,000  pamphlets  de- 
voted to  civil  and  sanitary  engineering,  chemistry 
and  bacteriology. 

The  library  has  an  almost  complete  file  of  the 
United  States  water  supply  papers,  a  good  collection 
of  national,  state,  city  and  town  reports  and  many 
books  and  reports  upon  valuation  and  rate  cases, 
particularly  in  the  field  of  waterworks,  society  and 
association  journals  and  periodicals,  trade  cata- 
logues, and  from  500  to  600  lantern  slides,  negatives 
and  photographs  are  valuable  features  of  the  col- 
lection. 

The  books  are  fully  catalogued  and  they  are 
classified  by  the  decimal  system. 

The  library  is  maintained  for  reference  purposes 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  the  firm's  business.  The 
public  is  welcome  to  come  to  the  library  for  infor- 
mation along  the  lines  of  civil  and  sanitary  engineer- 
ing. 

The  librarian  is  Miss  Ruth  Canavan. 

47.     National  Industrial  Conference  Board 
Library 

As  part  of  its  equipment,  the  National  Industrial 
Conference  Board  has  recently  established  a  library 
at  15  Beacon  Street.  The  National  Industrial  Con- 
ference Board  is  a  cooperative  body  composed  of 
representatives  of  national  industrial  associations, 
organized  to  provide  a  clearing  house  of  informa- 


8o  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

tion,  a  forum  for  constructive  discussion,  and  ma- 
chinery for  cooperative  action  on  matters  that  vitally 
affect  the  industrial  development  of  the  country. 

With  a  small  collection  begun  only  a  few  weeks 
ago,  a  library  is  being  developed  which  will  contain 
current  information  from  all  parts  of  the  world  on 
industrial  subjects.  Unimportant  material  before 
the  current  year,  of  more  or  less  historical  interest 
only,  will  be  used  in  other  libraries  of  Boston  and 
elsewhere.  The  Board  intends  to  collect  only  litera- 
ture relating  to  industry,  labor  and  allied  questions, 
but  will  give  particular  attention  to  present-day  ten- 
dencies and  latent  but  nascent  problems. 

Much  of  the  material  is  in  books,  more  in  pam- 
phlet literature,  and  the  rest  in  clippings  and  photo- 
graphs. The  library  will  contain  among  other  things 
material  on  government,  labor  legislation,  work- 
men's compensation,  industrial  diseases,  accidents, 
first  aid  and  safety  work,  social  insurance,  labor  dis- 
putes, arbitration  and  mediation,  labor  supply,  wages 
and  hours  of  labor,  industrial  preparedness,  cost  of 
living,  trade  and  commerce,  transportation  and  his- 
tory and  development  of  the  various  industries  in 
America.  A  complete  file  of  the  most  recent  United 
States  and  state  documents  relating  to  health,  labor 
statistics  and  commerce  is  accessible  and  the  library 
is  collecting  similar  material  on  foreign  countries. 
A  small  but  steadily  increasing  number  of  trade 
catalogues,  clippings  and  pictures  is  available  for 
reference. 

The  catalogue  system  is  very  interesting.  When 
completed,  it  will  include  books  and  will  also  index 
periodicals  whether  in  the  library  or  not.  The  en- 
tries will  be  annotated  not  only  as  to  contents,  but 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  81 

as  to  author,  his  qualifications,  prejudices  and  point 
of  view.  This  will  make  an  unusual  and  costly  card 
system  of  untold  value.  Books  rare  and  difficult  to 
obtain  and  material  not  in  the  library  will  have  a 
card  in  the  catalogue,  containing  a  brief  description 
and  note  of  the  book.  This  source  of  information 
will  be  valuable  beyond  measure  and  will  give  access 
and  knowledge  of  material  throughout  the  country. 
Several  large  libraries  in  this  country  collect  cata- 
logue cards  of  other  institutions,  but,  so  far  as  is 
known,  no  other  library  has  attempted  to  send 
trained  cataloguers  about  the  country  to  note  mate- 
rial in  the  various  libraries  and  make  their  annota- 
tions on  the  spot. 

The  library  is  preparing  for  future  developments. 
The  librarian  is  a  staunch  advocate  of  library  as- 
sistants learning  foreign  languages  as  a  measure  of 
preparedness  for  future  problems.  For  example,  he 
is  of  the  opinion  that  after  the  war  European  coun- 
tries, particularly  Russia,  Holland  and  the  nations 
now  at  war,  will  publish  many  works  which  will  be 
extremely  useful  to  Americans  in  commerce  and  in- 
dustry. The  Swedish  nation  is  one  of  the  foremost 
of  European  nations  at  the  present  time  in  the  issu- 
ing of  government  and  private  printed  matter  on 
industrial  and  commercial  subjects.  South  America 
and  the  Far  East  are  just  waking  up. 

No  dead  wood  is  allowed  to  stay  on  the  shelves. 
By  a  weeding-out  process,  only  the  latest  issues  and 
editions  are  kept  in  the  Conference  Board  Library. 
The  material  used  in  editing  its  weekly  publication, 
Industrial  News  Survey,  and  other  bulletins  is  lo- 
cated and  checked  by  the  library  staff.  The  library 
department,  like  all  other  departments  in  any  busi- 


82  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

ness,  must  pay  for  itself,  and  it  is  making  a  strong 
effort  to  make  itself  a  big  asset  to  the  organization 
of  which  it  is  a  component  part.  It  therefore  at- 
tempts to  aid  the  Board  members  in  their  work  and 
to  develop  personal  contact  in  each  instance. 

The  following  national  industrial  associations  are 
represented  in  the  Board :  American  Cotton  Manu- 
facturers' Association,  American  Paper  and  Pulp 
Association,  Electrical  Manufacturers'  Club,  Manu- 
facturing Chemists'  Association  of  the  United 
States,  National  Association  of  Cotton  Manufac- 
turers, National  Association  of  Manufacturers,  Na- 
tional Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers,  National 
Automobile  Chamber  of  Commerce,  National  Boot 
and  Shoe  Manufacturers'  Association,  National 
Council  for  Industrial  Defense,  National  Erectors' 
Association,  National  Founders'  Association,  Na- 
tional Metal  Trades  Association,  Rubber  Associa- 
tion of  America,  Inc.,  Silk  Association  of  America, 
and  United  Typothetse  and  Franklin  Clubs  of 
America. 

With  such  an  organization  behind  it  the  library 
must  become  a  vital  and  forceful  factor  to  all  who 
come  in  contact  with  it.  Students  of  economics, 
labor  problems,  trust  problems  and  other  similar 
courses  should  find  the  material  on  current  happen- 
ings of  unusual  importance. 

The  librarian  is  J.  H.  Friedel,  formerly  of  the 
Economics  Division  of  the  New  York  Public  Li- 
brary and  assistant  to  the  librarian  at  Cornell  Uni- 
versity. He  will  be  glad  at  any  time  to  assist,  so 
far  as  he  can,  any  investigators  along  the  line  in 
which  his  library  specializes. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  83 

48.     New  England  Conservatory  of  Music 
Library 

The  New  England  Conservatory  of  Music  on 
Huntington  Avenue  has  a  splendid  library  of  4,300 
volumes.  The  rare  and  valuable  works  are  many, 
including  complete  editions  of  Bach,  Beethoven, 
Handel,  Mozart,  Mendelssohn,  Palestrina  and  other 
noted  composers. 

Elsewhere  on  the  shelves  are  a  good  biographical 
collection,  works  on  musical  history,  harmony, 
acoustics,  general  literature  and  special  literature  on 
the  piano,  organ  and  vocal  music. 

The  library  also  includes  the  Choral  Library  of 
the  famous  Boylston  Club  and  its  successor,  the 
Boston  Singers.  This  is  now  the  property  of  the 
Conservatory.  The  collection  contains  over  six  hun- 
dred carefully  selected  works  representing  the  high- 
est type  of  vocal  polyphonic  composition  from  the 
great  mediaeval  school  down  to  the  present  day. 

Portraits  of  famous  singers  and  other  musicians 
of  the  past  and  present  are  mounted,  as  are  also 
short  biographical  sketches,  analyses  of  symphonies, 
opera  stories  and  other  clippings  of  general  interest. 
These  are  filled  alphabetically  and  posted  on  the 
bulletin  board  at  various  times. 

The  Thursday  Morning  Musical  Club  Library 
and  the  Orchestral  Library  of  the  Conservatory  are 
also  shelved  in  the  Conservatory  Library. 

The  librarian  is  Miss  Mary  A.  Thayer  and  the 
assistant  librarian,  Miss  Gertrude  G.  Brailey.  Miss 
Thayer  is  also  librarian  of  the  Harvard  Musical 


84  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

Association  on  Chestnut  Street.  The  library  is 
maintained  for  the  faculty  and  students  of  the  Con- 
servatory. Visitors  are  always  welcome. 

49.     New  England  Hardware  Dealers' 
Association  Library 

The  New  England  Hardware  Dealers'  Associa- 
tion, affiliated  with  the  National  Retail  Hardware 
Association,  has  been  collecting  since  1892  an  in- 
formation file  relating  to  hardware  interests. 

There  are  over  1,000  books  and  pamphlets.  The 
books  are  mostly  registers  and  directories,  while  the 
pamphlet  material  is  composed  of  trade  catalogues. 
Hardware  periodicals  are  filed  as  well  as  New 
England  Hardware  News,  published  monthly  by  the 
association.  The  catalogues  and  government 
pamphlets  are  filed  and  cross  indexed. 

The  principal  source  of  information  is  the  direc- 
tory of  all  hardware  dealers  and  factories  in  the 
United  States.  Factories  are  listed  according  to  the 
articles  which  they  manufacture.  For  instance  if 
a  person  wished  to  know  who  manufactures  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  chisel  in  his  vicinity,  he  would  find  all 
makers  of  that  chisel  listed  alphabetically. 

Although  the  material  in  the  office  and  library  of 
the  association  is  primarily  for  the  members,  out- 
siders may  refer  to  the  collection  for  information. 

The  association  employs  no  regular  librarian  ow- 
ing to  the  small  collection.  Mr.  George  A.  Fiel  is 
the  secretary. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  85 

50.     New  England  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company  Library 

The  New  England  Telephone  and  Telegraph 
Company  is  among  the  public  service  corporations 
which  maintain  strong  working  collections  of  books 
and  other  sources  of  information.  Their  selection 
of  material  is  unusually  thorough  and  comprehen- 
sive, embracing  as  it  does  questions  relating  to  labor 
in  its  various  phases. 

The  book  collection  outside  of  the  main  deposi- 
tory may  be  broadly  classed  as  law,  including  state 
reports  of  the  five  states  in  which  the  company  op- 
erates, Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massa- 
chusetts and  Rhode  Island;  United  States  Supreme 
Court  decisions;  state  legislation  of  the  five  states; 
all  text-books  on  corporation  law;  public  service 
commission  reports  of  all  the  states  and  Canada. 

Electricity  is  a  subject  in  which  printed  material 
is  unusually  short-lived  and  the  collection  of  about 
one  hundred  volumes  contains  practically  all  of  the 
most  up-to-date  authoritative  text-books  on  elec- 
tricity, with  special  reference  in  its  relation  to  the 
telephone.  The  accounting  books  include  the  prin- 
cipal texts.  Thirty  or  more  war  books  have  re- 
cently been  purchased  to  answer  various  service 
questions. 

The  collection  proper  includes  a  great  deal  of 
material  on  all  labor  questions,  hygiene,  conditions, 
wages,  etc.,  reports  of  the  New  England  states, 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  publications  of  the 
United  States  government,  chiefly  those  of  the  Cen- 
sus Bureau  and  the  Department  of  Labor.  The 
principal  aim  is  to  get  new  material  in  regard  to 


86  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

labor — especially  the  employment  of  women,  of 
whom  over  seven  thousand  are  employed  in  the 
company.  Larger  questions  of  socialism  and  col- 
lectivism are  studied  and  more  narrow  questions  of 
lunches,  housing,  clubs,  and  societies  of  employees, 
libraries,  savings,  morality,  profit  sharing,  and  the 
like.  One  feature  is  the  information  of  corporate 
relations  along  the  lines  of  government  ownership 
and  regulation;  for  example,  theoretical  works  on 
the  basis  of  rate  making.  This  is  a  new  field  except 
the  rate  making  in  railroad  literature. 

The  book  collection  of  2,500  volumes,  including 
all  bound  works  in  the  several  scattered  locations, 
includes  standard  works  in  economics,  efficiency, 
pensions,  insurance,  minimum  wage  and  social- 
ism— all  of  these  broader  than  mere  statistical  ma- 
terial. Every  possible  printed  article  which  might 
enlighten  the  officers  regarding  the  employing  of 
women  is  studied.  For  instance,  one  book  in  the 
collection  is  a  novel,  stating  the  exact  experiences  of 
a  working  girl — how  she  lives,  how  she  apportions 
her  wages. 

There  are  several  hundred  pamphlets  which  are 
weeded  out  twice  a  year  for  material  which  has  be- 
come valueless.  The  book  collection  being  scattered 
and  small  needs  no  card  catalogue,  but  the  vertical 
file  material  is  indexed  according  to  folders.  The 
decimal  system  is  used  and  each  folder  contains 
several  minute  subdivisions  of  the  subject.  The  in- 
dex of  the  file  contains  about  300  cards — each  card 
containing  ten  or  more  sub-division  entries.  Eco- 
nomics, labor,  electricity,  and  the  other  subjects  are 
all  included.  Although  as  a  rule  it  is  not  necessary 
to  use  the  index,  it  is  a  necessity  for  those  not  fa- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  87 

miliar  with  the  arrangement  of  the  vertical  file.  In 
another  department — The  Archives — the  complete 
correspondence  of  the  company  is  filed  by  subjects, 
making  a  comprehensive  record  of  transactions  and 
operations  of  the  concern  by  topics. 

The  magazine  collection  is  small.  It  embraces 
economics,  labor,  vocational  training  and  industrial 
education,  both  American,  English  and  Canadian. 
These  magazines  are  only  of  use  for  present-day 
information — for  the  practical  use  of  the  corpora- 
tion— and  are  not  preserved.  The  company  also 
has  a  strong  collection  of  general  reference  books, 
government  reports,  and  recent  sheet  reports  of 
English  war  investigations.  The  guiding  genius  in 
this  work  has  found  that  invariably  questions  arising 
in  Europe,  especially  in  England  and  Germany,  re- 
garding phases  of  labor  problems  generally  arrive 
in  the  United  States,  some  five  years  or  so  later. 
It  is  this  world-wide  policy  of  the  company  to  watch 
developments  and  their  relation  to  our  people  that 
makes  their  services  valuable. 

The  library  facilities  of  the  New  England  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph  Company  are  not  along  the 
line  of  welfare  work  for  their  employees.  The  ma- 
terial is  rather  for  scientific  study  and  investigation 
to  enable  the  concern  to  more  efficiently  handle  the 
human  element  connected  with  their  work  and  to  be 
able  intelligently  and  efficiently  to  serve  the  general 
public.  The  company  has  always  maintained  a 
reputation  for  exceptional  service,  unique  methods 
and  general  efficiency.  This  work  has  perhaps  been 
present  before  the  public  more  recently  through  the 
house  organ,  Telephone  Topics,  which  has  a  circu- 
lation of  about  15,000.  This  publication  is  full  of 


88  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

interesting  data,  both  for  telephone  employees  and 
the  general  public. 

The  reference  facilities  of  the  New  England 
Telephone  Company,  which  are  used  principally  by 
executive  and  administrative  officers  and  experts, 
began  about  ten  years  ago.  The  "library"  is  not 
open  to  the  general  public.  The  majority  of  ma- 
terial housed  there  may  be  found  in  other  libraries, 
but  not  so  easily  accessible  nor  with  the  expert 
guidance,  without  which  the  value  of  a  collection  is 
not  on  a  par  with  what  it  should  be. 

Mr.  Edward  A.  Wilkie,  a  graduate  of  Boston 
University  Law  School  in  1880,  has  direct  super- 
vision over  the  details  connected  with  this  work. 
He  was  for  many  years  a  prominent  practising  at- 
torney who  make  the  study  of  labor  questions  his 
avocation. 

51.     Old  Colony  Trust  Company  Library 

The  library  of  the  Old  Colony  Trust  Company 
Library  is  unique  in  that  it  is  not  unique.  The  li- 
brary is  not  the  only  one  of  its  kind ;  neither  is  it  the 
largest  nor  the  most  complete.  It  is  just  a  real  col- 
lection of  really  workable  material  all  in  really 
usable  form.  The  only  claim  made  for  the  Old 
Colony  Library  is  that  it  serves  a  purpose  which  is, 
definitely  stated,  along  the  line  of  furnishing  sta- 
tistical data  and  financial  information  to  employees, 
clients  and  the  public. 

The  general  public  has  yet  to  be  educated  to 
recognize  and  use  libraries  of  special  types.  Busi- 
ness men  now  recognize  fully  the  value  of  such  col- 
lections, and,  where,  ten  years  ago  the  idea  was 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  89 

scoffed  at  on  all  sides,  now  there  are  few  business 
houses  but  do  not  rely  in  some  form  or  other  on  a 
"special  library,"  so  called. 

In  its  statistical  department  the  company  main- 
tains two  libraries — the  law  library  and  statistical 
library.  The  former  is  a  collection  of  1,000  bound 
volumes,  the  latter  a  collection  of  over  2,000  vol- 
umes, with  a  mass  of  pamphlet  literature  in  addi- 
tion. This  vertical  file  material  I  should  roughly 
estimate  at  50,000  to  60,000  in  number. 

The  law  library  is  in  essence  one  of  the  regular 
type  of  privately  collected  law  works,  comprising 
miscellaneous  law  texts  and  various  reports  con- 
cerning legal  and  other  matters.  The  company 
places  decided  emphasis  on  legal  work  in  relation 
to  its  own  business,  and  this  library  is  maintained 
for  reference.  They  would  rather  depend  on  it 
than  depend  on  attorneys  outside  of  their  own  force. 
Mainly  the  works  housed  in  the  legal  department 
comprise  Massachusetts  and  other  state  reports, 
United  States  Government  and  legal  statutes,  text- 
books on  law,  etc. 

The  statistical  library  is  by  far  the  more  interest- 
ing, as  well  as  the  most  important  division  of  the 
Old  Colony  information  sources.  The  Credit  De- 
partment carries  on  its  work  in  cooperation  with 
the  Statistical  Department.  Because  of  this  fact 
an  enormous  amount  of  material  which  might  prove 
of  extreme  value  to  both  departments  is  vertically 
filed.  There  are  thirty  or  forty  cabinets  containing 
annual  and  financial  railroad  reports  of  companies 
in  the  United  States  filed  alphabetically.  Reports 
of  mining  concerns,  industrial  companies  and  pub- 
lications of  business  houses,  all  of  which  are  per- 


go  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

tinent  aids  of  such  work  as  the  Trust  Company  is 
engaged  in,  are  also  kept. 

The  files  of  the  library  are  many.  It  is  not  pos- 
sible to  use  one  continuous  file,  because  the  subject 
material  to  be  filed  relates  to  so  many  phases  of 
finance.  So  each  presents  its  own  peculiar  prob- 
lems as  to  the  best  methods  of  filing.  Cabinets  are 
used  as  corporation  files.  The  reports  and  mis- 
cellaneous publications  of  every  kind  of  corpora- 
tion, industrial,  commercial,  public,  etc.,  are  filed 
there. 

Pamphlets  are  taken  care  of  by  being  placed  in 
pamphlet  boxes.  Normally,  this  method  is  not  the 
logical  one  to  follow,  owing  to  the  limited  expan- 
sion. Material  filed  this  way  is  more  difficult  to 
reach  and  must  be  continually  shifted  if  the  collec- 
tion keeps  growing.  The  Old  Colony's  pamphlet 
collection  is,  however,  small,  and  about  thirty-five 
boxes  care  for  all  this  material.  Their  main  leaflet 
material  is  not  in  pamphlet  form,  but  in  circulars 
and  miscellaneous  reports  which  can  be  accurately 
classified. 

The  book  shelves  contain  large  numbers  of  finan- 
cial reference  books,  dictionaries,  directories  and 
other  like  material,  with  bound  copies  of  magazines, 
and  also  the  current  numbers. 

Still  another  file  lists  hundreds  of  investment 
bond  circulars  of  companies,  arranged  alpha- 
betically by  companies,  and  over  100  which  con- 
tain specific  information  relating  to  particular  sub- 
jects are  fully  catalogued.  Lists  of  securities,  also, 
with  current  quotations  must  be  full  and  complete, 
with  an  alphabetical  arrangement  to  guide  custom- 
ers and  clerks  intelligently. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  91 

What  the  statistical  department  terms  an  "index 
key  to  the  files"  is  a  catalogue  of  the  various  file 
material.  In  the  main  catalogue  there  are  some  ten 
to  twelve  thousand  cards,  each  of  ten  to  twenty 
entries.  These  are  the  guides  to  the  mass  of  ma- 
terial and  are  supplemented  by  other  catalogues — 
one  of  these  gives  a  list  of  obsolete  securities  for 
companies,  a  service  which  is  of  immense  value  to 
the  firm. 

Another  card  compilation  undertaken  by  the  li- 
brary is  the  catalogue  of  quotation  service  which 
gives  prices  of  unlisted  securities  gained  from  vari- 
ous sources.  This  is  somewhat  of  an  undertaking 
itself. 

To  facilitate  the  library  work  several  "special 
services"  are  subscribed  to.  Some  of  these  issue 
daily  and  weekly  sheets  of  financial  matters, 
monthly  and  quarterly  cumulations  of  like  kind. 
One,  which  is  really  an  index  of  marketable  bonds, 
tabulates  in  convenient  form  on  card  sheets  special 
information  of  bond  investments.  The  balance 
sheets,  operating  income,  history,  etc.,  of  large  rail- 
road, public  utility,  and  industrial  companies,  com- 
plete descriptions  of  bonds,  together  with  their 
range  of  prices  and  other  information,  are  con- 
tained in  the  tabulations.  Government  loans  and 
corporation  stocks,  with  complete  data,  are  kept  to 
date.  Analytical  work  such  as  is  performed  by  this 
kind  of  service  is  impossible  in  any  one  financial 
firm.  By  supplementing  the  library  with  such  serv- 
ice and  numerous  special  files  and  catalogues,  the 
Old  Colony  Trust  Company  Library  maintains  an 
efficient  standard  of  work. 

Only  within  the  past  two  or  three  years  has  this 


92  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

library  been  recognized  by  the  company  as  an  asset. 
Before  that  time  it  was  merely  a  small  static  collec- 
tion of  small  or  irrelevant  matter. 

The  library  specializes  in  steam  railroad  litera- 
ture— all  phases  regarding  the  existing  steam  rail- 
roads of  the  country,  whether  equipment,  lines  or 
financial  standing.  That  is  their  particular  hobby, 
and,  because  of  their  strong  collection,  the  library 
is  specially  well  qualified  to  advise  in  railroad  mat- 
ters. 

The  main  work  of  the  Old  Colony  Trust  Com- 
pany Library  lies  in  its  service  to  their  Trust  and 
Bond  Department,  but  its  services  are  freely  given 
to  the  public,  whether  patrons  of  the  company  or 
not.  The  Old  Colony  librarian  and  statistician,  Mr. 
Edward  H.  Kittredge,  is  an  ardent  believer  in  co- 
operation and  would  be  glad  to  assist  in  any  possible 
way  students  of  finance. 

52.     Pilgrim  Publicity  Association  Library 

For  the  past  ten  years  the  Pilgrim  Publicity  As- 
sociation has  been  slowly  developing  a  library  of 
advertising  and  salesmanship.  It  contains  about 
500  books  and  50  periodicals.  The  material  has 
been  carefully  catalogued  and  classified. 

The  Association  has  over  400  members.  The 
Educational  Committee  uses  the  library  to  a  great 
extent  in  their  lecture  and  class  work  for  the  mem- 
bership throughout  the  winter  months. 

The  library  is  maintained  by  voluntary  contri- 
butions of  money  and  books  from  the  members. 
A  "Give-one-book  Campaign"  last  year  netted  a 
good  many  new  books  and  some  funds. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  93 

The  Pilgrim  Publicity  Association  Library  is  the 
only  one  in  the  city  devoting  itself  wholly  to  adver- 
tising and  in  time  it  should  develop  into  a  collection 
of  unusual  possibilities.  It  is  really  not  open  to  the 
public,  but  to  the  Association  members.  A  very 
liberal  policy,  however,  is  pursued  in  this  line  and 
students  of  advertising  problems  will  be  well  treated 
there,  if  they  find  the  library  of  value  in  their  work. 

Mr.  Guy  E.  Marion  is  the  association  librarian. 

53.     E.  H.  Rollins  and  Sons  Library 

E.  H.  Rollins  &  Sons,  investment  and  bonds,  at 
200  Devonshire  Street,  maintain  a  financial  and 
statistical  library  of  about  500  volumes. 

This  library  in  the  main  contains  books  that 
would  be  of  assistance  in  the  study  of  finance. 

The  collection  includes  reports  of  public  service 
commissions,  bank  commissions,  railroad  reports, 
insurance  department  publications  and  statistical 
year  books  and  census  of  Canada.  Poor's  Man- 
uals, Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  daily 
bond  buyer  and  other  material  found  in  such  collec- 
tions constitute  the  nucleus  of  the  library. 

Some  pamphlets  are  kept,  and  a  printed  catalogue 
was  issued  in  1912.  The  library  is  maintained  for 
the  employees  and  clients  of  the  firm. 

The  librarian,  Mr.  Donald  Ordway,  is  at  the 
front  in  France.  At  the  present  time  the  library 
comes  under  the  direction  of  Miss  Mabel  E.  Cheney. 

54.     Sampson  and  Murdock  Co.  Library 

An  unusual  library  is  that  maintained  by  the 
Sampson  &  Murdock  Company  at  their  office,  246 


94  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

Summer  street.  This  collection  is  made  up  almost 
entirely  of  directories,  including  city  and  town 
books,  directories  covering  entire  counties  and 
states,  and  special  trade  directories  covering  the 
entire  country.  The  City  and  Town  Directories 
cover  practically  all  places  in  the  United  States,  and 
these  books  are  kept  strictly  up-to-date. 

The  Sampson  &  Murdock  Library  can  well  be 
divided  into  three  parts :  first,  a  set  of  latest  city  and 
town  directories;  second,  a  set  of  latest  trade  di- 
rectories; and  third,  a  set  of  old  directories  run- 
ning back  in  many  cases  to  the  date  that  the  first 
directory  for  the  place  was  published. 

For  Boston,  as  an  example,  the  directories  are 
kept  on  file  running  back  to  1789;  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  Sampson  &  Murdock  Company  has  pub- 
lished the  Boston  Directory  ever  since  1846.  This 
company  also  publishes  the  New  England  Business 
Directory  and  city  books  for  over  30  places. 

The  file  of  current  directories  is  used  by  the 
Sampson  &  Murdock  Company  for  compiling  all 
kinds  of  mailing  lists,  and  the  manager  of  this  de- 
partment gives  much  data  showing  the  advantages 
of  securing  lists  taken  from  the  latest  up-to-date 
information  compiled  to  order,  so  to  meet  actual 
requirements  as  nearly  as  possible. 

During  the  last  eight  or  ten  years,  direct  mail 
advertising  has  been  growing  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
and  the  Sampson  &  Murdock  Company  has  estab- 
lished a  separate  department  for  compiling  lists, 
furnishing  "typewritten"  letters,  and  in  fact,  for 
handling  any  details  connected  with  their  clients' 
mail  advertising. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  95 

There  are  ample  accommodations  for  the  general 
public  to  use  the  library  and  for  all  ordinary  refer- 
ence work ;  there  is  no  charge.  The  file  of  old  direc- 
tories is  used  principally  for  tracing  persons  whose 
addresses  have  been  lost.  Perhaps  those  using  this 
service  the  most  are  attorneys.  Directories  are  fre- 
quently used  as  court  evidence  and  important  wit- 
nesses are  often  located  by  the  use  of  old  books. 
To  be  more  specific  about  this,  assume  that  we  are 
hunting  for  a  George  Freeman  who  used  to  live  in 
Portland,  Maine.  By  looking  up  the  old  Portland 
Directory  and  following  through  each  year,  we  find 
that  in  1911  Mr.  Freeman  moved  to  San  Francisco, 
California.  Then,  by  referring  to  the  latest  issue 
of  the  San  Francisco  Directory,  we  secure  at  once 
the  correct  address  of  Mr.  Freeman.  This  same 
service  is  used  by  collecting  agencies. 

The  current  directories  cover  something  like 
4,000  cities  or  towns,  and  these  books  are  all  card 
indexed  with  cross  references  making  it  possible  to 
locate  quickly  small  towns  that  are  included  with 
many  others  in  one  publication.  That  is,  towns 
which  are  too  small  to  have  a  directory  of  their 
own  are  often  grouped  together  and  a  combined  di- 
rectory published  covering  eight  or  ten  places.  The 
card  catalogue  numbers  over  6,000  cards. 

The  directories  are  shelved  by  states  and  then 
alphabetically  by  cities  and  towns.  Each  volume 
has  its  given  number  and  the  entire  collection  num- 
bers over  4,000  volumes. 

A  duplicate  file  of  six  or  seven  hundred  direc- 
tories one  year  old  are  kept  on  file  in  the  Boston 
Public  Library,  though  still  the  property  of  Samp- 
son &  Murdock. 


96  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

The  Sampson  &  Murdock  Company  was  estab- 
lished in  1846,  thus  having  71  years  of  uninter- 
rupted service  to  its  credit.  The  library  has  been 
a  part  of  the  organization  from  the  first  and  has 
flourished  with  the  business.  The  company  is  one 
of  the  oldest  of  its  kind  and  the  library  is  certainly 
the  largest  and  most  complete  in  New  England  and 
probably  on  the  Atlantic  Coast. 

Even  a  brief  visit  at  the  Sampson  &  Murdock 
Company  Library  gives  much  valuable  and  inter- 
esting information  concerning  directory  advertis- 
ing. Directory  advertising  is  reference  advertising. 

Magazine  and  newspaper  advertisements  may 
create  a  desire  for  a  certain  article.  Directory  ad- 
vertising explains  the  kind  of  merchandise  or  the 
kind  of  service  that  the  advertiser  is  capable  of 
supplying.  After  you  want  something,  the  direc- 
tory tells  where  you  can  get  it.  It  is  especially  in- 
teresting to  compare  advertisements  running  in  the 
present  directory  with  those  for  similar  and  in  many 
cases  the  same  concerns  twenty-five  or  thirty  years 
ago.  In  the  older  book  the  advertising  was  gen- 
erally little  more  than  a  business  card;  almost  no 
information  was  given.  Through  the  untiring 
efforts  of  the  Sampson  &  Murdock  Company  and 
the  Association  of  Directory  Publishers,  directory 
advertising  is  now  recognized  as  reference  adver- 
tising and  the  advertisements  in  the  current  direc- 
tories give  valuable  data  regarding  the  firms 
represented. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Hawkes,  manager  of  the  list  and  letter 
department,  is  also  in  charge  of  the  library. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  97 

55.     Scovell,  Wellington  and  Company 
Library 

The  firm  of  Scovell,  Wellington  and  Company, 
Certified  Public  Accountants  and  Industrial  Engi- 
neers, have  accounting  library  facilities  in  the  pri- 
vate library  of  Mr.  Clinton  H.  Scovell,  senior 
member  of  the  firm. 

The  library  was  started  with  the  firm  in  1910 
and  now  numbers  about  600  volumes.  The  material 
is  along  the  lines  of  general  business,  general  and 
cost  accounting,  auditing,  banking,  commercial  law, 
scientific  management,  correspondence  and  adver- 
tising. 

Some  pamphlet  material  is  kept  but  filed  in  vari- 
ous offices  under  classification  systems  which  are 
in  process  of  revision. 

A  card  catalog  indexes  the  book  material  by  sub- 
ject. The  library  is  for  the  general  use  of  members 
of  the  organization. 

Mr.  J.  Chester  Crandell  is  the  office  manager. 

56.     Social  Law  Library 

The  Social  Law  Library  in  the  Court  House  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  specialized  libraries  im- 
aginable. It  has  always  been  housed  in  the  same 
building  with  the  court.  The  library  has  been  in 
the  present  Court  House  since  1 893  ;  up  to  five  years 
ago  it  was  on  the  second  floor  and  then  it  was 
moved  to  the  present  quarters  in  what  was  at  that 
time  a  new  addition  to  the  building. 

The  appointments  of  the  rooms  are  ideal.  The 
harmonious  blending  of  artistic  furnishings  with  the 


98  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

specially  designed  stacks  tend  to  give  the  library  an 
appearance  unlike  the  average  library.  Bells  at 
each  reading  desk  bring,  at  an  instant's  notice,  a 
page  who  will  bring  any  desired  books  of  the  65,000. 

Many  unique  and  rare  articles  are  in  the  archives 
of  the  Social  Law  Library.  It  should  be  interesting 
to  note  a  few.  The  library  possesses  the  only  known 
set  of  volumes  comprising  the  complete  trial  of  the 
famous  Rowland  Will  jCase  of  years  ago.  At  the 
time  this  case  caused  great  comment  because  Hetty 
Green  was  a  party  in  the  suit.  Justinian's  Insti- 
tutes, 1472,  is  also  in  the  possession  of  the  library. 
This  work  of  the  famous  jurist  is  still  in  its  original 
binding,  and  the  hand  engraving  on  the  parchment 
is  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation.  Another  treasure 
is  the  watch  of  Lemuel  Shaw,  for  30  years  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Massachusetts  Supreme  Judicial 
Court.  His  grand-daughter,  who  presented  the 
watch  to  the  collection,  stated  that  it  was  the  only 
watch  the  Chief  Justice  ever  had.  Perhaps  the  most 
interesting  of  all  these  exceptional  possessions  is  the 
original  and  only  copy  of  the  complete  evidence  in 
the  case  of  Jesse  Pomeroy,  who  has  been  so  recently 
in  the  gaze  of  the  public.  The  trial  of  his  case  is 
dated  February  19,  1877. 

But  this  library  is  not  a  museum  only.  It  con- 
tains shelf  upon  shelf  of  legal  periodicals.  It  has 
the  reports  of  each  state,  numerous  texts;  and  the 
reports  and  laws  of  Australia,  England,  France, 
Germany,  Scotland,  and  all  other  European  coun- 
tries. The  reports  of  English  trials  and  pamphlets 
in  the  legal  field  are  durably  bound  for  preserva- 
tion. A  small  library  of  miscellaneous  publications 
and  subjects,  mainly  received  through  donations,  is 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  99 

located  where  the  readers  may  have  prompt  access 
to  it.  The  stack  rooms  shelve  the  collection  of 
duplicates,  law  briefs,  session  laws,  some  federal 
report,  and  State  Bar  Association  reports. 

A  card  catalogue  of  over  100,000  cards  forms  the 
key  to  the  library.  An  author  catalogue  shows  what 
is  on  hand  by  authors,  and  a  subject  catalogue  gives 
the  resources  of  the  library  on  each  topic. 

The  maintenance  of  the  Social  Law  Library  is 
under  the  direction  of  a  board  of  trustees  who  are 
elected  by  the  proprietors.  Any  members  of  the 
bar  may  become  a  proprietor  or  subscriber  by  pay- 
ing a  proprietor's  fee  or  an  annual  subscription. 
Limited  circulation  is  allowed  proprietors  only. 

One  may  perhaps  wonder  at  the  name  Social  Law 
Library.  The  law  at  the  time  of  the  organization 
stated  that  any  seven  men  might  organize  a  library. 
So  a  few  men  who  were  of  the  legal  profession  met, 
organized  a  library,  and  added  the  name  "social," 
hence,  the  name  Social  Law  Library.  It  was  organ- 
ized in  1804  and  incorporated  in  1814. 

The  library  is  the  second  oldest  of  its  kind  in  the 
country,  and  is  the  third  largest,  excepting  the  Har- 
vard Law,  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Edward  H.  Redstone,  the  librarian,  who  has 
been  with  the  library  since  1908,  successfully  engi- 
neered the  planning  and  moving  of  the  library  to  its 
present  location  and  efficiency. 

This  Law  Library  is  not  a  public  library,  but  is 
an  exceptional  library  of  the  legal  type.  Our  own 
Law  School  maintains  a  legal  library  especially 
fitted  to  meet  the  needs  of  its  students. 


ioo  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

57.     Social  Service  Library 

The  Social  Service  Library,  18  Somerset  Street, 
opposite  the  Court  House,  is  another  of  the  inter- 
esting special  libraries  of  Boston.  More  than  twenty 
years  ago  the  Children's  Aid  Society  began  collect- 
ing annual  reports  of  societies  and  institutions,  and 
national,  state,  and  municipal  publications  from  all 
parts  of  this  country  and  from  Europe,  as  well  as 
books  on  social  questions.  These  made  up  the  pres- 
ent library  before  it  was  moved  from  the  Children's 
Aid  Society  in  1912. 

Since  that  time  the  collection  has  been  greatly 
expanded,  and  now  numbers  over  fifty-eight  thou- 
sand volumes,  including  pamphlets,  reports  and 
books.  The  library  contains  all  classes  of  material 
relating  to  the  various  movements,  educational, 
medical,  philanthropic,  and  economic,  which  may  be 
broadly  classed  under  the  head  of  Social  Service. 
Public  health,  medical  social  service,  mental  hygiene, 
alcoholism,  penology,  criminology,  social  insurance, 
city  planning,  vocational  education,  child  welfare, 
including  studies  of  the  defective  and  delinquent 
child,  are  among  the  special  topics  of  immediate 
interest.  All  these  are  being  catalogued  in  a  card 
catalogue  system. 

This  library  is  in  the  building  with  the  Simmons 
College  School  for  Social  Workers.  Students  in 
these  courses  are  the  chief  users  of  the  library.  Ma- 
terial for  them  is  easily  available  and  the  library  is 
used  for  assigned  reference  readings  and  research 
work.  Further  reading  of  certain  books  may  be 
done  at  home. 

In  addition  to  the  student  body,  there  are  a  great 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL, LIJBRASIES-  :oi. 

number  of  professional  and  social  workers  in  Bos- 
ton and  the  vicinity  who  make  use  of  the  collection. 
Books  are  asked  for  by  representatives  of  the  Social 
Service  Departments  of  all  the  large  hospitals,  the 
Boston  Associated  Charities,  the  Massachusetts  So- 
ciety for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children,  the 
Elizabeth  Peabody  House,  probation  officers,  stu- 
dents from  Technology,  Boston  University,  Harvard 
and  Simmons,  and  legislators  from  the  State  House. 

The  Social  Service  Library  is  maintained  and  de- 
veloped partly  by  Simmons  College,  and  partly  by 
private  interests.  As  the  library  is  used  extensively 
by  the  students  of  the  School  for  Social  Workers, 
Simmons  College  contributes  a  part  proportionate 
to  the  service  rendered.  The  remainder  of  the  ex- 
pense must  be  met  by  private  subscription. 

The  Social  Service  Library  is  open  as  a  free  ref- 
erence and  circulating  library  to  all  who  are  inter- 
ested in  social  problems  of  the  day.  Books  may  be 
withdrawn  for  two  weeks,  subject  to  renewal,  and 
a  summer  privilege  of  taking  six  books  for  July  and 
August  is  allowed  all  borrowers.  To  the  students 
of  Sociology  this  library  should  have  a  strong 
appeal. 

The  librarian,  Miss  Margaret  Watkins,*  is  a  Bos- 
ton University  graduate.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that 
Boston  University  is  well  represented  in  libraries  in 
Massachusetts.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Bos- 
ton University  offers  no  courses  in  library  training, 
the  graduates  who  have  entered  the  library  profes- 
sion hold  responsible  positions,  using  their  collegiate 

*  Miss  Elizabeth  Fanning  has  been  librarian  since  the  res- 
ignation of  Miss  Watkins  in  June. 


s       BrOSTDNv!s/ SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

training  as  a  base  and  acquiring  their  specific  library 
training  either  in  other  institutions  or  in  practical 
work. 

58.     Stone  and  Webster  Library 

The  Library  of  Stone  and  Webster,  maintained 
for  the  members  of  the  organization,  is  exception- 
ally strong  in  engineering,  statistics,  finance  and 
public  utilities.  With  over  5,000  books,  half  that 
number  of  pamphlet  material  and  a  good  assort- 
ment of  magazines  in  the  technical  field,  the  library 
takes  an  important  place  in  the  administration  of 
the  firm's  work. 

The  library  collection  proper  includes  works  on 
civil,  electrical,  mechanical  engineering,  public  utili- 
ties, a  large  number  of  special  indexes,  and  general 
reference  works.  The  growing  tendency  to  co- 
operate in  the  purchase  and  use  of  reference  works 
will  mean  more  and  more  that  this  library  avoids 
the  purchasing  of  many  a  book  of  value  when  it 
knows  that  a  business  neighbor  has  it,  or  will  have 
it,  available. 

A  card  catalogue  of  approximately  75,000  cards 
indexes  not  only  the  books  and  other  material  actu- 
ally in  the  library,  but  more  and  more  refers  to 
material  elsewhere  in  the  offices  and  in  other  Boston 
libraries,  and  even  in  collections  out  of  the  state. 

Books  and  magazines  are  sent  around  to  different 
specialists  in  the  office  and  articles  of  value  are 
marked  for  preservation.  Furthermore,  experience 
has  shown  that  it  is  exceedingly  important  for  a 
library  of  this  kind  to  know  who's  who  in  the  or- 
ganization and  what  their  several  specialties  are;  so 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  103 

that  the  resources  for  getting  at  information  include 
persons  as  well  as  printed  matter.  The  same  need 
for  personal  resoruces,  of  course,  is  true  outside 
the  organization  as  well.  Consequently  the  card 
index  which  primarily  refers  to  books,  pamphlets, 
etc.,  has  a  goodly  and  growing  insertion  of  colored 
cards  that  refer  to  personal  resources.  In  short, 
the  index  might  be  called  a  "Where  to  look  cata- 
logue," and  the  library  an  "Information  Bureau." 
This  is  in  accord  with  the  trend  of  library  work  in 
connection  with  business. 

The  Library  of  Stone  and  Webster  is  probably  the 
oldest  of  its  kind  in  this  country.  While  it  is  main- 
tained primarily  for  the  members  of  the  organiza- 
tion, through  courtesy  and  cooperation  it  is  available 
to  others  also.  Mr.  George  W.  Lee  has  been  the 
librarian  since  the  library  was  organized  in  1907. 

59.     Charles  H.  Tenney  and  Company 
Library 

Charles  H.  Tenney  &  Company  maintain  in  their 
offices  at  20 1  Devonshire  Street  a  library  devoted 
largely  to  industrial  engineering.  This  concern 
manages  some  twenty  public  service  companies,  such 
as  gas,  electric,  street  railways  and  others  of  like 
nature. 

The  library  contains  all  available  printed  matter 
relating  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  work  of  the 
company  and  the  concerns  it  manages.  Some  of 
the  volumes  are  made  up  of  decisions  of  public  ser- 
vice commissions  and  of  state  and  federal  courts, 
public  service  corporations  and  railroad  reports  of 
different  states,  texts  on  accounting,  industrial  engi- 


IO4  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

neering,  water  power  engineering.  Municipal  works 
of  all  sorts,  viz.,  ordinances,  reports,  and  so  forth, 
journals,  and  periodicals  of  electricity,  gas  and 
chemistry;  laws  of  states,  directories  of  cities  where 
properties  are  located,  banking,  workmen's  compen- 
sation, taxation,  steam  roads,  public  service,  peat, 
municipal  ownership,  meters,  insurance,  fuel,  elec- 
tric lighting,  railways,  lighting,  coal,  are  also  found. 

Several  vertical  files  are  used  for  customers'  cor- 
respondence and  for  pamphlet  material.  These 
pamphlets  number  about  1 ,200.  Bound  books  mount 
up  to  about  1,000  volumes.  Storage  space  on  an- 
other floor  cares  for  the  earlier  years  of  serial  pub- 
lications and  bound  periodicals. 

The  library  proper  is  not  the  entire  source  of  in- 
formation. Each  department  has  its  own  highly 
specialized  collection  as  an  adjunct  to  the  main 
library. 

The  advertising  department  has  in  its  cases  sev- 
eral standard  works  on  advertising  and  distribution. 
The  advertising  of  the  several  concerns  are  pre- 
served and  bound  in  volumes  for  each  locality. 

The  purchasing  department  has  hundreds  of 
trade  catalogues,  all  fully  indexed  in  one  large  cata- 
logue. These  cover  all  articles  on  manufacturing 
which  are  purchased  for  the  different  companies. 

In  the  engineering  department  texts  of  engineer- 
ing are  shelved  and  there  is  a  large  assortment  of 
catalogues  of  electric  and  mechanical  engineering 
material.  These  are  mostly  of  a  technical  nature. 
Some  are  the  property  of  members  of  the  firm. 

Financial  books  are  on  file  in  the  treasurer's  office 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  105 

and  accounting  and  auditing  works  in  the  auditor's 
office. 

The  Drafting  Room  contains  numerous  fireproof 
cabinets  for  maps.  Each  company  has  a  letter  of 
the  alphabet  assigned.  All  maps  and  blueprints  of 
the  plant  and  vicinity  are  filed  according  to  size. 
This  necessitates  a  complete  catalogue  of  the  mate- 
rial. The  maps  number  several  thousand.  A  large 
number  of  constructional  blueprints  and  maps  and 
tracings  are  kept  in  the  vertical  file. 

In  another  room  are  filed  in  specially  constructed 
cases  the  log  sheets  of  different  companies  in  30 
immense  volumes. 

The  investment  department  has  as  complete  a 
collection  as  any  of  the  departments.  This  com- 
prises corporation  records,  a  daily  report  service, 
indexes  and  literature  of  various  securities.  Num- 
erous files  of  investment  clients  and  prospects  are 
fully  indexed.  Financial  manuals  are  also  kept  here 
and  many  investment  circulars,  besides  a  private  file 
of  additional  material.  Descriptive  statements  of 
various  securities  are  issued  from  this  department 
and  hence  the  material  gathered  there  must  be  reli- 
able and  authentic. 

Altogether  the  many  sources  of  information  not 
in  the  library  proper,  probably  number  7,000  books, 
pamphlets,  and  maps.  These,  of  course,  form  a 
very  valuable  addition  to  the  library  department. 

The  library  proper  is  the  depository  for  the  type- 
written material  regarding  each  of  the  several  com- 
panies which  must  be  used  in  the  compiling  of  the 
annual  report  of  each.  The  Tenney  Company  also 
publishes  a  mimeographed  sheet  weekly  for  man- 


io6  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

agers  and  department  heads.  Tenney  Service,  the 
employees'  magazine  for  the  organization,  is  issued 
monthly. 

The  library  was  established  about  fifteen  years 
ago.  The  library  is  purely  for  reference  to  the  com- 
pany employees,  and  stockholders.  Each  local  com- 
pany under  the  direction  of  Tenney  &  Company 
has  its  own  circulating  library  for  its  employees. 

A  card  catalogue  serves  as  a  guide  to  the  library, 
which  is  classified  under  the  Dewey  System.  Miss 
I.  A.  Appleyard  is  the  librarian. 

60.     Town  Room  Library 

The  Town  Room  Library  at  3  Joy  Street  is  de- 
cidedly unique  in  the  realm  of  specialized  libraries. 
When  the  Twentieth  Century  Club  was  quartered 
on  Ashburton  Place  years  ago  it  began  a  collection 
of  books.  Early  in  1906  the  Club  moved,  and  it 
then  formally  installed  its  library  and  employed  a 
librarian  to  develop  its  unusual  selection  of  mate- 
rial. 

At  the  present  time  the  collection  numbers  over 
4,000  books  and  50,000  pamphlets,  all  made  acces- 
sible by  a  card  catalogue  of  over  125,000  cards. 
The  magazine  collection  numbers  about  forty  units, 
all  relating  to  social  work  and  city  and  town  life. 

Sociology  in  its  very  broadest  sense  is  the  main 
feature  of  the  library  and  its  norm  in  choosing  mat- 
ter. The  pamphlet  matter,  which  in  such  an  array 
of  material  is  of  so  great  value,  is  shelved  in  boxes 
with  the  books  which  treat  of  the  same  subject. 
Psychology,  ethics,  morals,  economics,  charity, 
criminology,  and  material  on  a  mass  of  allied  sub- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  107 

ject  such  as  town  planning,  city  management,  city 
improvements,  civic  betterment  and  other  subjects 
are  dealt  with  by  the  library  in  great  detail. 

The  library,  which  is  maintained  by  the  Twen- 
tieth Century  Club  and  the  Massachusetts  Civic 
League,  was  established  primarily  for  the  members 
of  the  two  organizations,  but  it  is  open  to  the  gen- 
eral public  for  reference.  Circulation  is  allowed 
members,  and  the  public  may  borrow  books  upon 
payment  of  a  nominal  fee  of  one  dollar  a  year. 
Material  is  often  sent  parcel  post  to  small  libraries 
and  individuals  in  outlying  communities. 

As  a  browsing  place  near  the  center  of  the  city 
where  readers  may  find  all  sorts  of  material,  and 
as  an  efficient  library  where  they  may  find  the  latest 
available  treatment  on  city,  town  and  village  im- 
provement interests,  as  well  as  complete  files  of  so- 
cieties and  associations  in  movements  that  make  for 
social  betterment,  the  Town  Room  Library  is 
unequaled  in  New  England. 

For  years  the  dream  of  Joseph  Lee,  the  Town 
Room  became  a  reality  through  his  generosity.  The 
personality  of  Mr.  Lee  has  been  extremely  evident 
in  the  moulding  of  the  policy  of  the  library.  To 
this  may  be  attributed  the  genial  and  hospitable 
atmosphere  of  the  place  with  its  alcoves  and  fur- 
niture of  olden  days  and  the  huge  fire  place  where 
one  may  watch  the  burning  logs  and  read  on  a  win- 
ters day.  The  Town  Room  reflects  the  spirit  of  Old 
New  England  and  deserves  a  wider  acquaintance 
with  the  reading  public. 

The  librarian,  Miss  Florence  A.  Johnson,  has 
been  with  the  library  for  the  past  ten  years. 


io8  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

61.     United  Drug  Company  Library 

The  United  Drug  Company  has  established  a 
library  devoted  mainly  to  the  lines  of  merchandis- 
ing, drug  trade  and  pharmacology.  This  is  another 
one  of  the  libraries  organized  in  1913  under  the 
direction  of  Guy  E.  Marion,  formerly  secretary  of 
the  Special  Libraries  Association. 

The  static  book  collection  here  is  not  very  large, 
for  the  majority  of  technical  works  relating  to  phar- 
macology and  chemistry  are  kept  as  a  working 
library  in  the  analytical  department.  But  in  this 
general  library  the  entire  field  of  purchasing,  sell- 
ing, advertising,  and  displaying  of  drug  store  goods 
receive  the  larger  portion  of  attention.  Books  re- 
lating to  these  subjects  and  to  miscellaneous  matter 
number  600.  Some  of  these  are  along  the  lines  of 
pharmacy  and  of  publications  of  technical  societies. 

The  catalogue  collection  is  over  700  in  number. 
As  in  other  such  collections,  only  catalogues  relat- 
ing to  the  business  are  kept.  The  material  contained 
here  is  devoted  to  the  field  of  drug  store  specialties, 
such  as  soda  fountains,  ice  cream  making,  store  fix- 
tures, and  so  forth.  Almost  400  pamphlets  and 
clippings  are  filed  alphabetically  according  to  the 
subject. 

The  book  material  and  the  files  of  the  house 
organ  of  the  organization  are  catalogued  in  a  card 
catalogue  of  20,000  cards.  This  is  done  by  author 
and  subjects.  The  material,  especially  the  official 
publication,  Recall  Ad-Vantages  is  minutely  in- 
dexed. In  general,  libraries  such  as  this,  operated 
by  private  firms,  go  in  thoroughly  for  analytical 
indexing,  especially  in  their  own  publications.  Each 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  109 

firm  usually  has  a  complete  file  of  its  own  material 
wholly  indexed. 

Even  the  minutest  details  are  instantly  available 
by  this  catalogue — material  not  yet  published  in 
book  form  regarding  salespeople,  retailing,  distribu- 
tion, turn-overs,  price  maintenance,  chain  stores, 
wages,  locations  and  expenses,  and  especially  those 
subjects  as  adapted  to  the  retail  drug  business.  Even 
the  latest  material,  published  a  comparatively  short 
time  ago,  is  kept  track  of. 

Drug,  pharmacy  and  trade  journals,  about  sev- 
enty-five, are  kept  on  file  and  the  more  important 
ones  are  bound — although  all  are  preserved. 

The  library  department  comes  under  the  direction 
of  the  Rexall  Clubs  Department,  Mr.  Thomas  B. 
Wooten,  director.  The  United  Drug  Company  is 
very  proud  of  what  it  is  able  to  do  through  its 
library,  in  the  disseminating  of  information  regard- 
ing Twentieth  Century  methods  of  conducting  a 
drug  business.  The  Rexall  Clubs  and  the  Rexall 
Ad- Vantages  are  enabled  to  maintain  their  high 
state  of  efficiency  through  the  sources  of  informa- 
tion in  the  library. 

Miss  Viola  H.  Burnham  is  librarian  of  the  United 
Drug  Company  Library,  which  is  chiefly  for  the 
executives  in  the  organization,  although  others  may 
use  it  also  if  given  permission. 

62.     Vocation  Bureau  Library* 

The  Vocation  Bureau  of  Boston,  in  its  quarters 


*  On  October  3,  1917,  the  yocation  Bureau  was  taken  over 
by  the  Department  of  Education  at  Harvard  University.  It  is 
now  known  as  the  Bureau  of  Vocational  Guidance.  Mr. 
Roy  W.  Kelly  is  the  new  director,  while  the  associate  director 
remains  the  same. 


no  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

at  6  Beacon  Street,  maintains  the  most  complete 
collection  of  literature  regarding  vocational  guid- 
ance to  be  found  anywhere  in  New  England.  This 
library  was  the  first  of  its  kind  to  be  established  in 
this  country. 

The  formation  of  the  Vocation  Bureau  was  in 
1908,  at  the  Civic  Service  House  in  Boston.  The 
next  year  it  was  placed  on  a  firmly  organized  basis. 
From  the  very  beginning  all  sorts  of  printed  in- 
formation has  been  gathered,  until  now  students  of 
educational  work  turn  to  the  Bureau  in  the  making 
of  theses,  reports,  diagrams,  statistics  and  like 
material. 

The  book  collection  is  not  large  in  number — there 
are,  roughly,  around  three  or  four  hundred  volumes 
— but  the  bulk  of  material  lies  in  the  pamphlet  field. 
Hundreds  and  thousands  are  filed  in  cabinets,  files, 
cases,  pamphlet  boxes,  shelves,  and  by  other  easily 
accessible  methods.  A  store  of  information  has 
been  gathered  from  the  world  of  industry  and  com- 
merce. Reports,  manuscripts,  press  and  magazine 
clippings,  material  from  European  countries  bear- 
ing on  the  subject  of  vocational  guidance,  files  of 
individual  letters  regarding  different  trades,  publi- 
cations of  state  and  national  agencies  interested  in 
life-career  problems,  all  these  are  available  for  the 
student  and  investigator. 

The  Bureau  is  a  clearing-house  for  vocational 
guidance  and  is  primarily  a  research  body — a  phil- 
anthropic institution.  In  its  individual  services,  in- 
vestigations and  instructive  experiments  in  the  fields 
of  education  and  employment,  made  with  the  aid  of 
the  Boston  City  Schools  and  Boston  business  firms, 
the  Bureau  has  published  several  works.  Many  of 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  in 

these  are  entire  books  regarding  vocational  guid- 
ance and  education.  Others  are  in  bulletin  and  pam- 
phlet form,  each  covering  some  particular  trade. 

Much  time  has  been  spent  in  original  investiga- 
tions by  the  special  investigator  for  the  bureau — 
the  minimum  length  of  time  spent  on  any  investi- 
gation being  three  months.  Valuable  information  is 
often  contained  in  tentative  pamphlet  form,  manu- 
script and  typewritten  reports  received  from  various 
sources.  An  endeavor  is  made  to  add  to  the  collec- 
tion everything  published  in  this  country  and  abroad 
dealing  with  the  field  of  vocational  literature, 
whether  in  book  or  other  form. 

The  Boston  Vocation  Bureau,  to  supplement  its 
services  for  the  Boston  City  Schools,  cooperates 
with  The  Home  and  School  Association,  The  Girls' 
Trade  Educational  League,  and  the  Women's  Mu- 
nicipal League.  The  Employment  Managers'  As- 
sociation is  also  actively  interested  in  the  work,  and 
through  all  these  agencies  the  transition  period  of 
the  boy  or  girl  from  the  school  to  life  work  has  been 
seriously  studied  to  prevent  needless  waste  of  time. 
The  problem  of  education  to-day  is  not  only  to  in- 
struct youth,  but  to  guide  in  the  struggle  for  a  firm 
hold  in  life.  Under  modern  conditions  of  labor 
division  and  high  specialization  in  commerce  and  in- 
dustry, this  advisory  service  has  become  a  grave 
necessity. 

The  material  to  be  found  in  the  Bureau's  Library 
should  be  of  inestimable  value,  not  only  to  students 
of  the  vocational  guidance  course  in  the  University, 
but  also  to  students  who  intend  to  specialize  in  com- 
mercial teaching  and  those  who  are  enrolled  in  the 
department  of  education  as  well. 


H2  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

No  regular  librarian  is  employed  for  the  Library. 
The  collection  is  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Fred- 
erick J.  Allen,  Investigator  of  Occupations  for  the 
Vocation  Bureau  of  Boston.  Mr.  Allen  was  at  one 
time  an  instructor  in  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  and 
is  now  in  charge  of  the  special  course  on  vocational 
guidance  given  under  the  direction  of  the  Teachers' 
Course  of  the  University.  Students  are  cordially 
invited  to  make  use  of  the  material  of  the  Vocation 
Bureau  and  are  assisted  in  every  possible  way. 

Mr.  Meyer  Bloomfield  is  the  director  of  the  Bu- 
reau. 

63.     Wells  Memorial  Library 

The  Wells  Memorial — a  working  people's  club — 
at  985  Washington  Street,  has  a  library  of  800  vol- 
umes. The  library  was  started  in  1879  and  is  fully 
catalogued  and  classified.  It  is  primarily  for  the 
use  of  working  people  who  may  take  books  out 
upon  registration.  Funds  for  the  maintenance  come 
from  the  general  treasury  of  the  Institute. 

The  subjects  covered  include :  biography,  history, 
economics,  general  literature,  reference  books,  re- 
ligion and  some  fiction.  In  connection  with  class 
work  certain  vocational  subjects  have  their  litera- 
ture in  the  library,  namely:  cooking,  automobiles, 
etc. 

Magazines  and  papers  are  on  the  reading-tables, 
but  with  one  exception  none  of  the  periodicals  are 
preserved  for  future  reference. 

William  C.  Ewing,  Superintendent  of  the  Insti- 
tute, has  charge  of  the  library. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  113 

64.     Women's   Educational  and   Industrial 
Union  Library 

The  Library  of  the  Women's  Educational  and 
Industrial  Union  is  supposedly  the  only  one  of 
its  kind  in  the  United  States.  Without  doubt 
this  is  the  only  library  in  America  specializ- 
ing on  women's  vocations  and  women  in  industry. 
To  be  sure,  many  large  libraries  maintain  special 
collections  of  similar  nature;  notable  among  such 
collections  are  those  of  the  John  Crerar  Library  in 
Chicago  and  the  New  York  Public  Library.  Our 
own  library  in  its  Galatea  Collection  maintains  a 
superb  library  of  suffrage,  biography,  and  history  of 
women.  But  these  libraries  handle  their  depart- 
ments more  from  the  historical  and  bibliographical 
side.  They  do  not  treat  of  women's  work  and  voca- 
tion in  such  a  way  as  to  give  business-like  informa- 
tion— live,  up-to-the-minute  accurate  data. 

Started  in  the  fall  of  1910,  the  Union  Library 
has  confined  itself  primarily  to  pamphlet  material, 
not  that  this  is  easier  or  more  economical  than  book 
collections,  but  because  literature  of  the  kind  suitable 
to  the  Union's  needs  is  found  mainly  in  unbound 
form.  There  are  some  bound  volumes,  about  eight 
hundred,  mainly  relating  to  industrial  and  social 
problems.  Besides  these  you  will  find  on  the  shelves 
government  documents  adapted  to  such  a  library's 
particular  needs. 

As  is  the  case  in  all  special  libraries,  the  Indus- 
trial Union  Library  makes  great  use  of  their  ver- 
tical file  material  which  is  not  catalogued,  but 
arranged  alphabetically  in  the  files. 

Between  seven  and  eight  thousand  pamphlets  on 


ii4  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

the  subjects  of  minimum  wage,  trade  unionism, 
labor  laws,  vocation,  current  industrial  problems, 
and  so  forth,  are  in  the  Library.  Leaflet  reports  of 
different  state  boards;  letters  requesting  special  in- 
formation and  carbons  of  the  answers;  copies  of 
lists  of  specific  occupations  compiled  by  the  Library, 
make  up  the  major  portion  of  the  pamphlet  collec- 
tion. Newspaper  clippings  are  widely  used  for 
current  topics  and  present  tendencies  in  various  oc- 
cupations and  trades.  Every  month  over  two  hun- 
dred magazines  are  received,  including  a  large  num- 
ber of  English  publications  which  are  not  generally 
found  in  this  section  of  the  country  in  small  li- 
braries. The  Union  Library's  magazine  field  em- 
braces economics  and  vocational  education.  A 
college  catalogue  and  publication  collection,  though 
.not  nearly  complete,  is  fairly  representative.  It  is 
composed  mainly  of  catalogues  of  non-sectarian  in- 
stitutions in  the  United  States  which  are  open  to 
women. 

The  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union 
Library  is  both  a  business  library  for  the  Union  de- 
partments and  a  public  reference  library.  One 
special  feature  of  the  library  is  its  Legislative  In- 
formation Service  which  gives  complete  information 
about  social  welfare  measures  in  Massachusett,  wo- 
men's clubs,  and  bills  of  legislation  on  women.  This 
scheme  has  been  in  vogue  several  years  and  has  been 
exceedingly  useful  not  only  to  the  patrons  of 
the  library  but  to  legislators  and  social  workers 
generally. 

In  conjunction  with  this  service  there  is  also 
maintained  a  file  of  members  of  the  Massachusetts 
House  of  Representatives  and  Senate,  and  this  gives 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  115 

full  information  about  each  member.  The  list  is 
alphabetically  arranged  and  indexed  by  towns  and 
districts.  Daily  and  semi-weekly  bulletins  of  ses- 
sions, dates  and  schedules  of  the  General  Court  are 
filed.  Biographical  sketches  of  Congressmen  and 
members  of  the  General  Court  are  part  of  the  mate- 
rial. Some  attempt  even  is  made  to  keep  track  of 
Federal  legislative  measures  affecting  women  and 
children. 

The  Union  Library  has  arranged  an  address  list 
of  organizations,  including  women's  organizations 
and  others.  For  the  smaller  and  little  known  clubs 
this  index  is  many  times  of  very  great  value. 

The  Union  and  its  departments,  including  the  li- 
brary, enjoys  the  very  closest  cooperation  with  Sim- 
mons College.  Some  courses  are  given  jointly  by 
both  institutions  and  as  both  are  in  the  vocational 
field  a  number  of  Simmons'  faculty  members  serve 
on  the  Union  staff  and  committees  and  vice  versa. 
This  arrangement  offers  an  ideal  solution  to  the 
problem  of  vocational  education  for  women. 

While  the  Library  is  maintained  as  a  department 
of  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union, 
and  is  also  supported  in  part  by  private  donations,  a 
large  portion  of  its  funds  are  received  through  the 
earnings  of  the  Industrial  Departments. 

To  students  of  Economics  and  to  those  interested 
in  vocational  education  of  women  this  special  library 
should  have  a  special  appeal.  The  librarian,  Miss 
Ethel  M.  Johnson,  who  has  built  up  this  unusual 
collection,  has,  since  her  graduation  from  college, 
taken  several  courses  in  Boston  University,  both  in 
the  College  of  Business  Administration  and  the  Col- 
lege of  Liberal  Arts. 


n6  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

The  Library  is  open  to  all  and  all  possible  assist- 
ance is  freely  given. 

65.     Youth's  Companion  Library 

An  editorial  reference  library  is  maintained  by 
the  publishers  of  the  Youth's  Companion  in  their 
building  on  Commonwealth  Avenue.  In  its  strictest 
sense  this  collection  is  not  a  specialized  library,  for 
it  contains  a  diversity  of  material,  including  general 
reference  works  in  English  and  foreign  languages, 
sociology,  natural  sciences,  the  arts,  literature, 
travel,  and  other  books  of  varied  nature  which  per- 
tain to  a  general  library. 

It  is  in  its  manner  of  preserving  part  of  its  re- 
sources that  this  library  takes  on  somewhat  of  a 
special  nature.  Take,  for  instance,  the  editorial 
library.  The  editorial  library  of  the  Companion  is 
not  so  complete  in  specialties  as  are  those  of  many 
technical  libraries.  But  it  has  something  about 
everything,  so  that  an  editor  can  find  illustrative 
material  at  hand,  and  this  makes  it  unique  by  putting 
it  in  a  special  class. 

The  vertical  file  material  of  this  library  is  kept 
in  about  125  drawers,  which  house  an  enormous 
mass  of  information  in  a  sort  of  loose  leaf  encyclo- 
pedia style.  As  magazines  arrive  they  are  stripped 
of  covers,  binding,  staples  and  advertisements,  and 
the  articles  and  portraits  to  be  preserved  are  checked. 
Each  article  is  then  stamped  and  "stabbed"  with  a 
wire  staple  and  deposited  in  an  oblong  vertical  filing 
envelope  which  contains  practically  all  the  material 
on  the  subject,  or  its  sub-divisions,  possessed  by  the 
library  up  to  date.  The  magazine  collection  is  ex- 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  117 

tremely  large  and  covers  all  branches  of  human 
activity.  All  leading  European  periodicals  are  sub- 
scribed for,  as  well  as  the  American  publications. 
In  addition,  the  most  prominent  newspapers  in  the 
world  are  received. 

This  magazine-pamphlet  collection,  which  is  com- 
posed mostly  of  magazine  articles,  is  in  this  respect 
unlike  a  newspaper  library,  which  does  not  generally 
contain  this  class  of  print,  but  solely  newspaper  clip- 
pings and  other  transitory  material. 

The  "loose-leaf"  material  is  divided  into  several 
sections.  First,  there  is  the  biographical  division, 
which  is  arranged  alphabetically.  More  prominent 
persons,  such  as  Clemens,  Samuel  L.,  have  several 
folders,  general  folder,  portrait  folder,  and  folder 
of  homes.  The  files  of  places  comes  next,  and  in  it 
the  United  States  is  divided  by  states  and  cities. 
Europe  is  treated  in  the  same  way.  Next  is  the 
miscellaneous  file  of  all  material  not  in  another 
classification.  In  the  last  section  most  of  the  en- 
velopes relate  to  artists  and  illustrations.  Work -of 
these  men  is  arranged  alphabetically.  There  are  also 
spaces  devoted  to  cover  designing,  to  commercial 
catalogues,  to  the  costumes  of  the  several  historical 
periods  and  of  the  many  countries.  The  art  depart- 
ment has  thousands  of  larger  and  more  bulky  photo- 
graphs, which  are  all  classified. 

All  this  material  mentioned  above,  and  all  bound 
book  references,  are  noted  on  the  envelopes  in  the 
vertical  files,  so  by  turning  to  the  envelope  which 
contains  the  information  which  you  are  looking  for, 
you  find  the  envelope  to  be  a  catalogue  in  itself.  In 
addition,  a  card  catalogue  is  kept  for  the  bound 
books. 


n8  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

This  collection  of  information  in  the  form  of 
classified  articles  and  other  pamphlet  material  gath- 
ered from  every  source  and  arranged  for  instant 
reference  is  what  distinguishes  editorial  libraries, 
which  are  important  for  reference,  from  other  types 
of  technical  libraries. 

The  editorial  reference  library  of  the  Youth's 
Companion  was  started  in  1898  as  an  editorial  li- 
brary. At  the  present  time  it  has  about  1,500  bound 
volumes  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  magazine 
articles. 

The  Youth's  Companion  was  first  issued  in  1827, 
the  earliest  juvenile  magazine  in  the  world  and  the 
only  one  that  has  continued  to  the  present  day.  Its 
file  of  back  numbers  is  very  valuable,  and  each  para- 
graph, article  and  author  in  every  number  since  1875 
is  indexed  in  a  gigantic  card  case.  This  is  used 
chiefly  to  locate  references  and  to  answer  queries  of 
subscribers. 

Mr.  Paul  P.  Foster,  an  assistant  editor,  is  libra- 
rian and  states  that  the  library  may  be  used  by  stu- 
dents engaged  in  research. 

66.     Harvard  Musical  Association  Libray 

The  Harvard  Musical  Association  was  founded 
in  1837,  and  one  of  its  earliest  activities  was  the 
formation  of  a  musical  library  which,  in  1843,  con- 
sisted of  between  three  and  four  hundred  volumes. 
This  number  increased  until  now  there  are  about 
9,000  volumes  of  music  and  literature  relating  to 
music  and  the  kindred  arts.  The  collection  is  sys- 
tematically arranged  and  carefully  indexed  for  the 
use  of  musicians  and  students.  The  library  is  open 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  119 

to  members  of  the  Association  and  to  non-members 
under  certain  restrictions.  It  is  maintained  from 
membership  dues  and  a  fund  bequeathed  by  the  late 
Mrs.  Julia  M.  Marsh.  The  library  is  located  at 
57a  Chestnut  Street,  Boston. 

Mr.  Ernest  O.  Hiler  is  the  librarian  and  Miss 
Mary  A.  Thayer  the  assistant  librarian. 


120  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

This  bibliography  or  reading  list  of  library 
economy  for  business  librarians  is  not  intended  to 
be  exhaustive.  It  is  merely  a  suggestion  of  the 
reading  which  should  be  a  part  of  the  training  of 
every  business  librarian.  The  larger  part  of  the 
material  listed  is  of  the  past  three  or  four  years  only. 

The  manuals,  containing  material  of  cataloguing, 
classification,  and  other  kindred  subjects,  should  be 
of  value  to  those  studying  library  economy,  for 
while,  as  a  rule,  many  of  the  rules  and  ideas  are  of 
no  value  in  business  library  work,  yet  some  of  the 
fundamental  principles  are  there,  and  excellent  ideas 
can  often  be  culled  from  the  reading. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  121 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOPPER,  F.  F. 

Order  and  accession  department,  rev.  ed.  A.  L.  A. 

RATHBONE,  JOSEPHINE  A. 

Shelf  department.    A.  L.  A. 

STEARNS,  LUTIE  E. 

Essentials  in  library  administration,  rev.  ed. 
A.  L.  A. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

LOWE,  JOHN  A. 

Books  and  libraries,  71  p.,  Boston  Book  Co., 
1916. 

MUDGE,    ISADORE    G. 

Bibliography.    A.  L.  A. 

NEWARK,  N.  J.  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

1600  Business  Books,  arranged  by  authors, 
titles  and  subjects.  Compiled  by  Sarah  B.  Ball. 
Second  ed.  rev.  and  enl.  to  2100  titles  by  L.  H. 
Morley  and  S.  H.  Powell.  232  p.  H.  W.  Wil- 
son Co.,  1917. 

BUSINESS  ENGLISH 

BAMBURGH,  WILLIAM  C. 

Talks  on  business  correspondence.  246  p.  Little, 
Brown  '16. 

GARDNER,  EDWARD  H. 

Effective  business  letters.    376  p.  Ronald  '16. 
HOTCHKISS,  GEORGE  B.  AND  CELIA  A.  DREW 

Business  English.    376  p.    A.  B.  C.  '16. 

CATALOGUING 

HITCHLER,  THERESA 

Cataloguing  for  small  libraries,  new  ed.  A.  L.  A. 
316  p. 


122  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

IMHOFF,  ONA  M. 

Cataloguing  in  legislative  reference  work,  Spec. 
Libs.,  3:149-54,  September  '12. 

CLASSIFICATION 
BACON,  CORINNE 

Classification.    A.  L.  A. 
CANAVAN,  RUTH 

Two  features  of  the  engineering  library.     Eng. 

News  Record:  46  ap.  5,  '17. 

CLIPPINGS 

Care  of  clippings.    Ind.  75 :568-9,  September  4,  '13. 
FOSTER,  PAUL  P. 

Reference  libraries  for  busy  men.  Ind.  67:1125-8, 

November  18,  '09. 
LUCE,  ROBERT 

Clipping   bureau   and   the   library.     Spec.    Libs. 

m  4:152-57,  September  10,  '13. 

DOCUMENTS 

WYER,  JAMES  I.,  JR. 

Government  documents,  state  and  city.  A.  L.  A. 
U.  S.  Government  documents  in  small  libraries, 
new  ed.  A.  L.  A. 

FILING 

BARKER,  H.  F. 

Devices  for  efficiency.  J.  Educ.  84:373-4, 
October  19,  '16. 

BUNNELL,    S.   H. 

Filing    of    correspondence    in    a    manufacturing 
business.    Eng.  M.    34:479-82,  December  '07. 
BUSH,  F. 

Simple  system  for  filing  and  handling  tracings 
and  prints.  II.  Eng.  M.  45:546-61,  June  '13. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  123 

CLARK,  N.  M. 

Files  that  find  letters   in  a  hurry.    II.   System 
28:216-20,  320-4,  434-8,  August-October  '16. 
Colored  band  methods  of  filing  pamphlets  and 
books.    Bull,  of  BibL,  Ap.  '15.    p.  155-6. 

CRAMER,  J.  A. 

Filing  department.    Bankers  Pub.  Co.,  '17. 

DOLKART,  L. 

Our  easy  way  to  file  bulky  papers.  II.  System 
34:786-7,  June  '16. 

FRAILEY,  P.  L. 

Every  man  his  own  text  book:  how  the  meat  of 
technical  periodicals  is  clipped  and  filed  for 
department  heads.  System  25  :318-9,  March  '14. 

HUDDERS,  EUGENE  R. 

Indexing  and  filing.    292  p.    N.  Y.  Ronald  '17. 

KENNER,  ALVIN  R. 

Indexing  and  filing  technical  literature.  Eng.  and 
Mining  Jour.  May  '15.  99:851-56. 

MURPHY,  C.  D. 

Why  business  men  don't  forget.  II.  System 
29:582-92,  June  '16. 

PERRY,  E.  J. 

Handling  telegraphic  correspondence.  Bankers  M. 
82:351-2,  March  '11. 

RING,  JAMES,  JR. 

Correspondence  file  used  by  Mercantile  Trust 
Company  of  St.  Louis.  II.  Bankers  M.  80:236- 
42,  February  '10. 

ROBINSON,  MRS.  A.  L. 

Filing.    Spec.  Libs.    6:147-49,  November  '15. 

TARRANT,  S.  C. 

Cross  filing  instead  of  remembering.  II.  System 
26:84-5,  June  '14. 


124  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

THOMPSON,  C.  B. 

Right  filing  and  easy  finding:  logical  mnemonic 
classification.    System  23:586-92,  June  '13. 

WlGENT,    W.    D.    AND    OTHERS. 

Modern  filing.    100  p.    Rochester,  N.  Y.    Yaw- 
man  Erbe,  '16. 

GENERAL 

GlLLIAMS,  E.   L. 

Library   for   business   men.     System   24:188-90, 

August  '13. 
HANDY,  DANIEL  N.  AND  G.  E.  MARION 

Business  library.   II.  System  26:96-9,  June  '14. 
JOHNSTON,  RICHARD  H. 

Special  Libraries.   A.  L.  A. 
LOOMIS,  M.  M. 

Libraries  that  pay:  efficient  business  houses  and 

classified  information.    Ind.  74:1436-8,  June  26, 

'13. 
MEYER,  H.  H.  B. 

Select    list    of    references    on    special    libraries. 

Spec.  Libs.  3:172-76,  October  '12. 

INDEXING 

CANAVAN,  RUTH 

Indexing  lantern  slides.  Eng.  News  Record  :229, 

August  2,  '17. 
CUTTER,  WALTER  P. 

An    international    technical    index.     Spec.    Libs. 

2:83-6,  October  '11. 
HUDDERS,  EUGENE 

Indexing  and  filing.    292  p.    N.  Y.  Ronald  '17. 
MORTON,  F.  N. 

Indexing  and  abstracting  of   current   literature 

for  the  benefit  of  employees.    Spec.   Libs.  2:16, 

February  '16. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  125 

MUNSON,  F.  G. 

Making  of  a  law  index.   Am.  Law  R.  43 :801-12, 
November  '09. 

WILSON,  H.  W. 

Problems    of   printed   indexes    in   special    fields. 
Spec.  Libs.  2:83-6,  October  '11. 

LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE 

BAXTER,  R.  M. 

Legislative  reference  library.    Arena  39:674-81, 
June  '08. 

CARTER,  CHARLES  F. 

First  aid  to   legislators.    R.   of   Rs.   49:587-90, 
May  '14. 

CLELAND,  ETHEL 

Legislative  reference  1914-1915.    Am.   Pol.  Sci.    , 

R.  10:110-13,  February  '16. 
FLOWER,  E. 

Sounding  the  retreat.    II.  Harp.  W.  60:417-18, 

May  1,  '15. 

KAISER,  JOHN  B. 

Law,  legislative  and  municipal  reference  libraries, 
477  p.    Boston  Book  Company. 
National   Legislative    reference   bureau.     Nation 
92:315,  March  30,  '11. 

Legislative   clearing-house.    Nation  81 :478,   De- 
cember 14,  '05. 

MCCARTHY,  CHARLES 

Federal  legislative  reference  department.    Survey 
28:298,  May  18,  '12. 

MANUALS 

BUDLONG,  MRS.  M.  G. 

Plan  of  organization  for  small  libraries,  71   p. 
Boston  Book  Co.,  '17. 


126  BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 

FAY,  LUCY  E.  AND  ANNE  T.  EATON 

Instruction   in  the  use  of  books   and  libraries, 
449  p.    Boston  Book  Co. 

WARD,  GILBERT  C. 

Practical  use  of  books  and  libraries,  third  ed., 
118  p.    Boston  Book  Co.,  '17. 

MUNICIPAL  REFERENCE 

CRECRAFT,  E.  W. 

Municipal  reference  library.    National  Munic.  R. 
2:644-53,  October  '13. 

FLACK,  H.  E. 

Importance  of  municipal  reference  library.   Nat'l 
Conf.  City  Gov't  1908:308-16. 

HALL,  E.  R. 

Plea    for   municipal    reference   library.     Survey 
28:770-1,  September  21,  '12. 

HASSE,  A.  R. 

Municipal  reference  library.    Lib.  J.  40:699,  '15. 

KAISER,  JOHN  B. 

Municipal    reference    library.      Nation    94:109, 
February  1,  p  '12. 

Law,  legislative  and  municipal  reference  libraries, 
477  p.  Boston  Book  Co. 

LAPP,  JOHN  A. 

How  to  organize  a  municipal  reference  bureau. 

Am.  City  11:206-10,  September  '14. 

Municipal   reference   library.     Survey   26:872-3, 

September  23,  '11. 

Report    of    Committee    on    municipal    reference 

libraries  and  archives.  National  Munic.  R.  5 :172- 

4,  January  '16. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  127 

REFERENCE 

HOPKINS,  FLORENCE  M. 

Reference  guides  that  should  be  known  and  how 
to  use  them.    187  p.    Detroit,  Willard  Co. 

MUDGE,    ISADORE 

Kroeger's   Guide   to   the   study   of   and   use   of 
reference  books,  rev.  ed.,  '17.    147  p.    A.  L.  A. 

MILLER,  A.  V. 

How  to  use  reference  books.    J.  Educ.  72:439, 
November  3,  '10. 


SPECIAL  LIBRARIES  for  November,  1917,  is  a  special 
issue  devoted  to  the  training  of  business  librarians. 
Addresses  from  the  viewpoint  of  library  schools, 
schools  of  business  administration,  personal  quali- 
fications and  a  general  discussion  of  the  subject 
will  appear.  A  list  of  references  by  the  Library 
of  Congress  on  "Business  Libraries  and  the  Rela- 
tion of  the  Business  Library  to  the  Business 
Man"  are  included. 


INDEX 


130 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


INDEX* 


Aberthaw  Construction  Co.     1 

Accounting 18,  50,  55,  59 

Accounting,  Cost 1, 45 

Accoustics  48 

Adams  Collection 41 

Advertising   18,  36,  55 

Adulteration 36 

Agassis,  Alexander 3 

Agriculture   4, 35,  37 

Agricultural  Chemistry.  .4,  37 
Agricultural  Education  —  37 

Agronomy 37 

Alcoholism  27 

Allen,  Frederick  J 62 

Allen,  Dr.  Glover  M 16 

Allen  &•  Daggett  Library.     2 

Alvord,  Henry  B 1 

American  Academy  of  Arts 

and  Sciences  Library. . .     3 
American  Agricultural 
Chemical    Company   Li- 
brary       4 

American    Congregational 

Association  21 

American    Cotton    Manu- 
facturers' Association. . .  47 

"American  Forestry" 39 

American  Society  for  Test- 
ing Materials 1 

American  Society  of  Civil 

Engineers  15 

American  Paper  and  Pulp 

Association  47 

Anatomy 13 

Annin,  /?.  Edwards,  Jr 37 


Anthropology 13 

Appalachian  Mountain 

Club  Library 5 

Appleton  Collection 41 

Appleyard,  Miss  I.  A 59 

Arboriculture  40 

Architecture    ....  14, 22, 23,  35 
Architecture — European. . .   14 

Arizona 45 

Armistead,  Louisa 10 

Art  14,22 

Artists — Biography 14 

Auditing  55 

Automobiles 63 

Bach 48 

Bacteriology  4,  46 

Ballard,  James  F 13 

Banking    31,33,51,55,59 

Barbon,  Dr.  Nicholas 29 

Beethoven 48 

Belcher  Papers 41 

Belknap,  Rev.  Jeremy 41 

Bell,  Miss  Dorothy  G 30 

Berry,  W.  Frederick 19 

Bible    21 

Bigelow,  Henry  J 13 

Biography  11,15,19,63 

Biography — Artists 14 

Biology  13 

Bishop  Stubbs  Library 21 

Bloomfield,  Meyer 62 

Bonds  31,33,51 

Boston  Athenaeum  13 

Boston  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce Library 6 


*  Numbers  refer  to  library  number  and  not  te  pages. 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


Boston  City  Schools 62 

Boston  Consolidated  Gas 

Company  Library 7 

Boston  Department    of 

Public  Works  Library..     8 
Boston  Department     of 

Statistics  Library 9 

Boston  Dispensary 13 

Boston  Documents 9 

Boston  Elevated    Railway 

Company  Library 10 

Boston  Globe  Library 11 

Boston  Herald 12 

Boston  History  21,41 

Boston  Journal  Library. . .  12 
Boston  Medical  Library..  13 
Boston  Museum  of  Fine 

Arts  Library 14 

Boston  Public  Library 13 

Boston  Society  of  Civil 

Engineers  Library 15 

Boston  Society  of  Medical 

Improvement 13 

Boston  Society    for    Med- 
ical Observation 13 

Boston  Society  of  Natural 

History  Library 16 

Boston  Stock  Exchange. . .     6 
Boston  Transcript  Library  17 
Boston  University  College 
of  Business  Administra- 
tion Library 18 

Botany 4,5,16,42 

Bowdoin  Papers 41 

Boy  Problem 20 

Brailey,  Miss  Gertrude  G.  48 

Brass 35 

Brazil  . .  .45 


Bridges 8 

Brooks,  Mr 35 

Bullard,  W.  Irving 45 

Burnham,  Miss  Viola  H...  61 

Business  English 65 

Byzantine  Architecture —  22 

Calico  Printing 35 

Caiman,  Miss  E.  A 27 

Cambridge  Public  Library.   13 

Canavan,  Miss  Ruth 46 

Candy  Manufacture 36 

Casey,  Miss  Mary 36 

Cash  Carriers 32 

Cement 35 

Ceramics 14 

Chadwick,  Dr.  James  R. . .  13 
Chambers  of  Commerce...     6 

Charity 60 

Chemistry  .  .4, 13,  35, 44, 46,  59, 
61. 

Chemical   Engineering 27 

Cheney,  Miss  Mabel  E..  53 

Child   Welfare 27 

Children's  Aid  Society...  57 

Children's  Books 25 

Chinese  Art 14 

Christian  Science 13, 19 

Christian  Science  Monitor 

Library   19 

Citizenship   20 

City  Planning 27, 60 

Civic  Service  House 62 

Civic    Service   House   Li- 
brary     20 

Civics   60 

Civil  Engineering. . .  15,  27, 35, 

46,58. 
Classic  Architecture..       .  22 


132 


Clemens  Herschel  Library  15 

Clippings  45 

Cobb,  Dr.  William  H 21 

Collectivism  50 

College  Catalogues 27,64 

Color-blindness  13 

Commerce 6 

Commercial  Chemistry 35 

Commercial  Education 62 

Commercial  Law 18,  55 

Commercial  Organizations  6 

Comparative  Anatomy 13 

Concrete  1,  35 

Confectionery  36 

Congregational  Library...  21 
Congregational  Library 

Association  21 

Conveying  Machinery 32 

Conveyors  32 

Conservation  39 

Copley-Pelham  Letters 41 

Corporation  Law 45 

Cook  Books 36 

Cook,  H.  0 40 

Cook,  Miss  Ruth  V 23 

Cotton  35,45 

Cotton  Mather's  Diary. . .  41 

Cover  Designing 65 

Cram,  Dr.  Ralph  A 22 

Cram  &  Ferguson 22 

Crandell,  J.  Chester 55 

Criminology 27,  32,  60 

Crockett,  Miss  C.  L 32 

Cummings,  W.  W 7 

Current  Events.  ..11, 12, 17, 19 

Dairying  37 

Davenport,  A.  H.,  and 

Company  Library 23 


Davis,  Philip 20 

Damson,  Miss  Nina  L 39 

Decorations   22 

Decorative  Arts 14 

Design  14 

Dental  Material 13 

Directories  10,  51,  54 

Dixon,  Frederick 19 

Dowse,  Thomas 41 

Drug  Trade 61 

Dunn,  R.  Loring 14 

Dyes 35 

Eclecticism 13 

Economics  ...18,33,38,50,60, 

63,64. 

Edison  Electric  Illuminat- 
ing Company  Library. . .  24 

Education 18 

Education,  Elementary.  .20,  25 

"Efficiency"    1, 26,  35,  50 

Egypt 45 

Egyptian  Art 14 

Electrical  Engineering.  ..2, 15, 

24, 27, 28, 35,  58. 

Electrical  Machinery 30 

Electrical    Manufacturers' 

Club  47 

Electricity  ....24,30,35,50,59 

Elevators  32 

Elizabeth  Peabody  House 

Library 25 

Ellis,  Rev.  Dr.  George  E..  41 

Employment  1,  50, 62 

Employm ent    Manager s' 

Association  62 

Engineering  ..1,  2, 8, 15, 27, 28, 

30, 35, 46,  58,  59. 
Engineers-biography 15 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


133 


Entomology  42 

Estey,  Miss  Helen  G 38 

Ethics  21,60 

European  Law  Reports ...  56 

European  Sculpture 14 

Evans,  Miss  Mary  E 15 

Ewing,   William   C 63 

Exploration   5 

Fanning,  Miss  Elisabeth..  57 

Farlow,  Dr.  John  W 13 

Ferguson  and  Cram 22 

Ferries 8 

Fertilizers 4 

Fiel,  George  A 49 

Fifteen  Percent  Rate  Case  43 
Filene's,  Wm.  Sons  Com- 
pany Library 26 

Finance  10,31,33,51,53 

Fine  Arts 14 

Fire  Insurance 29 

Fire  Protection  Engineer- 
ing    29 

Five  Percent  Case 43 

Floriculture   42 

Forbush,  Gayle  T 29 

Ford,  Fred  W 17 

Foreign  Languages 18, 65 

Foreign  Languages  (news- 
papers)      20 

Foreign  Trade 6, 18,  45 

Forestry 39,40,42 

"Forestry  and  Irrigation".  39 
"Forestry    and    Irrigation 

and  Conservation" 39 

Foster,  Paul  P 65 

Franklin  Union  Library..  27 

French,  Hollis 28 

Friedel.T.H....  ..  47 


Froebel  Club 25 

Furniture 23 

Gas 15,35,59 

Gasoline  Engineering 27 

Geology 5,16,28,35 

Girls'    Trade    Educational 

League 62 

Gothic  Architecture 22 

Government   Publications : 

Municipal  8, 9, 15,  46 

National 35,40,51 

State  15,36 

Great  Britain,  History 21 

Great  Britain,  Religion...  21 

Greek  Art 14 

Green,  Mrs.  Hetty 56 

Greenman,  Edward  D 34 

Griffin,  D.  A 2 

Gynecological    Society    of 

Boston 13 

Gypsy  Moth 40 

Haberdashery  45 

Handel 48 

Handwriting    13 

Handy,  Daniel  N 29 

Harmony 48 

Hartwell,  Dr.  Edward  M.    9 
Harvard  Medical  School..  13 
Harvard  Musical  Associa- 
tion Library 66 

Harvard  University 13,  62 

Hawkes,  C.H 54 

Hayes,  L.  B 6 

Heath  Papers 41 

Higgins,  Miss  Alice  G. . .     5 

Highways  8 

Hiler,  Earnest  0 66 

H olden,  Mrs.  Austin 3 


134 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell..  13 

Holmesiana 13 

Home  Economics 36,  63 

Homeopathy 13 

Home   and   School   Asso- 
ciation   62 

Horticulture 37, 42 

Hospital  Reports 13 

Rowland  Will  Case 56 

Hubbard,  Allen 28 

Hunt,  Wm.  Morris 14 

Immigration 20 

India 45 

Indian  Art 14 

Industrial  Education 50 

Infant  Feeding 44 

Inoculation 13 

Insects,  Injurious 39, 40 

Insurance  18, 29 

Insurance    Library    Asso- 
ciation     29 

Interior  Decorating 23 

Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission   ; 43 

Investments  31,33,51 

Irving-Casson  23 

Jackson,  D.  C.  and  W.  B. 

Library   30 

Japanese  Art 14 

Jefferson  Papers 41 

Jeffries,  Dr.  B 13 

Johnson,  Miss  Ethel  M. . .  64 
Johnson,  Miss  Florence  A.  60 

Journalism  18, 19 

Justinian's  Institute 56 

Kelly,  Roy  W 62 

Kidder,    Peabody    and 
Company  Library 31 


Kindergarten 25 

Kioto,  Japan-sculpture 14 

Kit tr edge,  Edward  H 51 

Labor 10,  38, 47,  50,  62, 64 

Labor  Legislation. .  .38,  45, 47 
Lamson  Company  Library  32 

Lantern   Slides 14, 46 

Law   2,43,50,51,56 

Law  Libraries 56 

Lee,  George  W 58 

Lee,  Joseph 60 

Lee,  Higginson  &  Co.  Li- 
brary      33 

Literature 63,65 

Little,     Arthur     D.     Inc., 

Library   34 

Little,  Ernest  L 45 

Linz,  Capt.  John 41 

Lockwood,     Greene     and 

Company  Library 35 

Lowney,    Walter   M.    and 

Company  Library 36 

Lumbering  35, 39 

Machinery 30,  32,  36, 45 

Management 18 

Mann,  Charles  E 43 

Manufactures    28 

Manufacturing     Chemists' 
Association  of  the 

United  States 47 

Marion,  Guy  E 52 

Massachusetts     Board    of 

Agriculture  Library 37 

Massachusetts    Bureau   of 

Statistics  Library 38 

Massachusetts  Civic 
League 60 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


135 


Massachusetts     Forestry 

Association  Library 39 

Massachusetts     Forestry 

Department  Library 40 

Massachusetts  History 41 

Massachusetts     Historical 

Society  Library 41 

Massachusetts   Horticul- 
tural Society  Library...  42 
Massachusetts  Institute  of 

Technology 22,  30 

Massachusetts  Public  Ser- 
vice Commission  Library  43 
Massachusetts    Railroad 

Commission  43 

Mather  Papers 41 

Mathematics    3 

Mechanical  Engineering. 2, 15, 
28,  5& 

Medical  Biography 13 

Medical  History 13 

Medical  Jurisprudence 13 

Medicine 13, 44 

Mellin's     Food     Company 

Library  44 

Mendelssohn   48 

Mental  Diseases 13 

Merchandising    61 

Merchants  National  Bank  45 

Metals  35 

Metcalf  and  Eddy  Library  46 
Military  and  Naval  Medi- 
cine    13 

Minerology 16,  28,  35 

Mining  Engineering 15 

Minimum  Rate  Case 43 

Minimum  Wage 50 

Morals  . ,  60 


Morphology  13 

Mountaineering    5 

Mozart 48 

Murray,  Miss  Margaret  E.  26 

Music  48 

Musical  History 48 

Musicians  Biography 48 

Myrick,  Philip  A 44 

Nara,  Japan-Sculpture 14 

National     Association     of 

Cement  Users 1 

National     Association    of 
Cotton  Manufacturers. 6, 45 
47 
National     Association    of 

Manufacturers    6, 47 

National     Association     of 

Wool  Manufacturers..  6,  47 
National    Automobile 

Chamber  of  Commerce.  47 
National    Board    of    Fire 

Underwriters  29 

National  Boot  and  Shoe 
Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion    47 

National  Founders'  Asso- 
ciation    47 

National  Council  for  In- 
dustrial Defense 47 

National  Erectors'  Associ- 
ation    47 

National    Industrial    Con- 
ference Board  Library. .  47 
National     Metal     Trades 

Association 47 

National  Retail  Hardware 

Association 41 

Natural  History 16 


136 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


Natural  Sciences 3, 16, 65 

Nature  Science 37 

New    Bedford    Textile 

School  35 

New  England  Association 

of  Gas  Engineers 15 

New  England  Forests 39 

New    England    Hardware 

Dealers'  Association 49 

New  England  History.  .21,41 
New    England    Conserva- 
tory of  Music 48 

New  England  Mills 45 

New    England    Telephone 
and  Telegraph  Company 

Library   50 

Nerves  13 

Nevin,  Francis 12 

Newspaper   Libraries..  .11, 12, 
17,19 

Numismatics   14 

Old    Colony    Trust    Com- 
pany Library 51 

Old  Dissertations 13 

Opera    48 

Ordway,  Donald 53 

Organ  Music 48 

Osteopathy 13 

Painting   14, 22 

Painting,  European 14 

Palestrina  48 

Parcel  Carriers 32 

Parks 8 

Parsons,  Charles  S 8 

Patents 2 

Pathology 13 

Pediatrics  13 

Penology 27 


Pensions  50 

Pepperrell  Papers 41 

Perkins,  C.E 33 

Peru 45 

Petroleum 15 

Pharmacology 61 

Pharmacy 13 

Phelps,  Roswell  F 38 

Philosophy  21 

Physics    28 

Physiology   13 

Piano  Music 48 

Pilgrim  Publicity  Associa- 
tion Library 52 

Plant  Diseases 4 

Pneumatic  Machinery 32 

Pneumatic  Tubes 32 

Poetry  21 

Pomeroy,  Jesse 56 

Port  Development 6 

Power,  Ralph  L 18 

Printing 19 

Prints 14 

Prescott,  Col.  William 41 

Psychology  13, 18, 60 

Public  Health 27 

Public   Hygiene 13,  27 

Public    Service    Commis- 
sion Reports. . .  10, 31, 33,  35, 
43,  53,  58,  59 

Publishing 19 

Public  Works  8 

Purchasing  18 

Pure  Food  Laws 36 

Radiotherapy 13 

Railroads  ..10,31,33,43,51,53 

Rane,  Frank  W 40 

Redstone,  Edward  H 56 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


137 


Reference 11 

Religion 21,  63 

Religion,    Boston 21 

Religion,  New  England...  21 

Remely,  Miss  Ethel  M 25 

Reports  of  Hospitals 13 

Retail  Trade 18 

Reynolds,  Harris  A 39 

Rhode  Island  History 41 

Rich,  William  P 42 

Robinson,  Miss  Christabel  35 

Robinson,  H.  E 37 

Roentgen    rays 13 

Rollins,   E.   H.,  and   Sons 

Library 53 

Roman  Art 14 

Romanesque  Architecture.  22 

Roxbury  Athenaeum 13 

Rubber 35 

Rubber  Association  o  f 

America,  Inc 47 

Sales  Management 32 

Salesmanship  18,  32,  36,  52 

Sampson  &  Murdock  Com- 
pany Library 54 

Sanitary  Engineering 46 

Sanitary  Science 13 

Sayward,  Perceval 5 

School  of  Social  Workers  27 

Science    3, 13 

Scientific  Management. 26,  35, 
55 

Scovell,  Clinton  H 55 

Scovell,     Wellington    and 

Company  Library 55 

Sculpture    14, 22 

Sella  Collection 5 

Sewerage 8 


Shaw,  Lemuel 56 

Shipping  6 

Shrubs 39 

Sibley,  John  Langdon 41 

Silk 35 

Silk  Association  of  Amer- 
ica   47 

Simmons  College 57,  64 

Slater,  Mrs.  H.  N 14 

Social  Insurance 27, 47,  50 

Social  Law  Library 56 

Social  Service  Library....  57 

Socialism 58 

Society  for  the  Protection 
of  New  Hampshire  For- 
ests    39 

Sociology  .20,21,25,27,50,60, 
64,65 

Soils 4 

South  America 18,  45 

South  Sea  Islands 45 

Stained   Glass 22 

Statistics  ...9,31,33,38,51,53 

Steam  Engineering 27,35 

Stocks   10,31,33,51,53 

Stone,  A.  D 24 

Stone  and  Webster  Li- 
brary    58 

Storer,  Robert 31 

Streets  8 

Sugar  36 

Surgery 13 

Tanning    35 

Technology 27 

Telegraph 43 

Telephone 50 

Telephone  Topics 50 

Temple  Papers 41 


138 


BOSTON'S  SPECIAL  LIBRARIES 


Tenney,   Charles   H.,  and 

Co.  Library 59 

Textile  Engineering 35 

Textile  Industry 45 

Textile  Mills 45 

Textiles 14, 35, 45 

Thayer,  Miss  Mary  A.. 48, 66 

Theology 21 

Tinkham.S.  E 15 

Tokio  Imperial  Collection  14 
Tometius,  Miss  Esther  C.  11 

Town  Room  Library 60 

Toxicology 13 

Trade  Catalogues. . .  15, 24,  27, 
30, 46, 49 

Transportation   18, 43, 45 

Travel  5,16,65 

Trees  39 

Tree  Diseases 40 

Tropical  Diseases 13 

Trumbull  Papers 41 

Tufts  College  Medical 

School  13 

Tuttle,  Julius  H 41 

Twentieth  Century  Club..  60 
United  Drug  Company  Li- 
brary    61 

United  States  Department 

of  Agriculture 45 

United  States  Department 

of  Commerce 45 

United    States    Geological 

Survey 35 

United  States  History.  .21,41 
United  Typothetae  and 
Franklin  Clubs  of 

America 47 

Vaccination    13 

Vital  Statistics 9, 13 


Vivisection  13 

Vocal  Music 48 

Vocation  Bureau  Library.  62 

Vocational  Books 3 

Vocational  Education.  .27,  50, 
62,64 

Vocational  Guidance 62 

Voight,  V.  L 24 

Waltham  Public  Library..  13 

Ware,R.C 7 

Warren-Adams     C  o  r  r  e  - 

spondence  41 

Warren  Papers 41 

Water  and  Water  Works.  8, 

35,  46,  59 

Waterson,  Rev.  Robert  C.  41 
Wat  kins,  Miss  Margaret.  57 

Weaving  35 

Webster,  Dr.  Arthur  G...  3 
Wells  Memorial  Library..  63 
Western  Advance  Rate 

Case  43 

Wetmore  Papers 41 

Wheeler,  Dr.  H.  J 4 

White  Mountains 5 

Wilkie,  Ed-ward  A 50 

Winthrop  Papers 41 

Women  in  Industry 64 

Women's  Educational  and 
Industrial  Union  Libra- 
ry    64 

Women's    Municipal 

League 62 

Wool   35 

World  War 50 

Yiddish  20 

Youth's  Companion  Li- 
brary    65 

Zoology    3,13,16 


ANNOUNCEMENTS 


— forty-one  Universities  use  as  a  class  text. 

MATERIALS  OF 
CORPORATION  FINANCE 

By  CHARLES  W.  GERSTENBERG,  Ph.B.,  J.D.,  Director  of 
the  Finance  Department,  New  York  University,  School  of 
Commerce,  Accounts  and  Finance. 

This  volume  represents  the  work  of  the  author  over  a  period 
of  many  years  in  compiling  financial  reports,  documents,  reports 
and  readings.  They  illustrate  every  phase  of  the  organization, 
funding,  financial  management  and  reorganizations  of  corpora- 
tions. 

"Most  of  the  corporations  are  well  known,  and  the  documents 
have  an  additional  interest  for  that  reason.  It  is  live  matter. 
Besides  these  documents,  the  book  presents  a  large  amount  of 
other  material. 

"Until  Professor  Gerstenberg's  book  arrived,  there  was  no 
readily  available  means  for  the  general  student  to  get  at  the 
original  documents  in  the  field  it  covers.  Even  an  extended  re- 
search in  the  libraries  would  fail  to  find  most  of  them.  Some 
could  be  had  if  one  knew  just  where  to  look  for  them.  But 
even  if  the  student  knew  just  where  to  go  and  was  willing  to 
undertake  the  very  considerable  amount  of  trouble  involved,  he 
would  hesitate  to  ask  the  favor.  If  any  large  number  of  students 
should  apply  at  the  trust  companies,  banking  houses,  and  other 
places  where  such  information  must  be  sought,  the  favor  would 
very  quickly  have  to  be  refused  at  these  places.  It  is  interest- 
ing, therefore,  to  know  that  this  book  presents  the  results  of 
seven  years  of  collecting  such  information." 

From  a  book  review  by  Professor  W.  H.  Lyon,  of  Columbia 
University,  appearing  in  the  "Modern  Business  Quarterly." 

"This  book  should  be  in  the  library  of  every  banker,  every 
college,  and  every  student  interested  in  corporation  finance." — 
Moody's  Magazine. 

xxi-f-1,023  pages,  size  6x9,  buckram,  price  $4.00.  Circular 
giving  complete  table  of  contents  on  request. 

PUBLISHED  BY  PRENTICE-HALL,  INC. 
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— a  book  that  every  business  man  ought  to  read — particu- 
larly if  he  is  a  credit  man 

THE  LAW  OF 
BANKRUPTCY 

By  CHARLES  W.  GERSTENBERG,  Ph.B.,  J.D.,  Member  of 

the  New  York  Bar,  Director  of  the  Finance  Department, 
New  York  University  School  of  Commerce,  Accounts  and 
Finance. 

"This  book  is  divided  into  four  parts.  The  first  part,  which 
is  written  in  clear,  simple  and  straight-forward  style,  is  a  read- 
able and  interesting  presentation  of  all  the  vital  principles  of 
bankruptcy.  Each  principle  and  process  of  bankruptcy  proce- 
dure is  not  only  explained  but  its  growth  and  reason  for  being 
is  clearly  set  forth.  Throughout  this  section,  cross  references 
are  frequently  made  to  the  various  sections  of  the  Act  of  Bank- 
ruptcy so  that  the  reader  may  follow  Dr.  Gerstenberg's  ex- 
planation and  the  law  simultaneously. 

"Part  2  treats  the  Statute  and  General  Orders  of  Bankruptcy, 
which  are  given  in  full,  yet  so  arranged  that  any  portion  may 
be  readily  referred  to. 

"Part  3  covers  the  official  forms  in  bankruptcy,  all  of  the 
63  forms  being  printed  in  large,  readable  type. 

"The  special  feature  of  Dr.  Gerstenberg's  book  is  Part  4,  which 
consists  of  125  problems  taken  from  cases  which  have  been  ad- 
judicated by  American  courts.  These  problems  illustrate  all  the 
phases  of  the  law  except  those  that  deal  with  matters  of  pro- 
cedure which  are  of  interest  only  to  the  lawyer.  They  are  not 
simple  little  cases,  but  are  all  those  border  line  cases  that  will 
tax  the  ingenuity  of  the  reader,  but,  once  mastered,  will  be  of 
inestimable  benefit  to  any  business  man.  Each  calls  for  sound, 
commonsense  judgment  and  their  solution  is  the  best  possible 
training  in  the  bankruptcy  law. 

"The  answers  to  these  problems  are  printed  in  a  separate 
book  with  a  complete  discussion  of  the  points  involved  in  each. 
Enough  is  quoted  from  the  opinions  of  the  court  to  show  what 
objections  had  been  raised  in  arguing  the  case." — Daily  Trade 
Record. 

The  text  is  187  pages,  size  6x9,  bound  in  silk  cloth  and  stamped 
in  gold,  price  $1.50.  The  answers,  68  pages,  same  size,  in  paper, 
price  50  cents. 

PUBLISHED  BY  PRENTICE-HALL,  INC. 

70   FIFTH   AVENUE,   NEW  YORK    CITY 


Credits  and  Collections 

BY 

RICHARD  P.  ETTINGER 

Member  of  the  New  York  Bar  and  Instructor  in  Fi- 
nance, New  York  University,  and 

DAVID  E.  GOLIEB 

Chairman  of  the  Educational  Committee,  National  As- 
sociation of  Credit  Men,  Credit  Manager  of  Einstein- 
Wolff  Co.,  and  lecturer  in  New  York  University. 


This  400-page  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  course  of 
lectures  given  by  the  authors  to  more  than  500  students 
at  the  New  York  University  School  of  Commerce,  Ac- 
counts and  Finance. 

"This  book  constitutes  the  most  important  addition  to 
credit  literature  of  recent  years.  *  *  *  Practical  credit 
problems,  such  as  the  analysis  of  financial  statements, 
discounts,  collections,  adjustments,  bankruptcy  proceed- 
ings and  credit  insurance  are  discussed  clearly  and  con- 
cisely, in  such  a  manner  that  the  reader  may  easily 
grasp  the  fundamental  principles." — Daily  Trade  Record. 

The  book  deals  not  only  with  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples but  also  with  the  most  modern  and  successful 
practice  of  credit  management  and  collections.  "This 
is  the  best  book  on  Credits  and  Collections  which  has 
ever  appeared  on  the  market.  The  topics  are  written 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  whole  book  reads  like  a  story 
and  is  very  easily  understood.  Every  point  is  brought 
out  clearly  and  concisely,  and  I  feel  after  the  class  of 
our  association  has  studied  this  book  thoroughly  they 
will  be  able  to  take  most  any  position  as  Credit  Men." — 
A.  C.  Schutz,  Ass't.  Treas.  of  Brockton  Heel  Co. 

Send  for  your  copy  tdday 

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